As schools consider reopening, hand-washing facilities are severely lacking in at-risk countries

As countries around the world debate sending students back to school in the midst of the pandemic, a new WHO and UNICEF report finds that 2 out of 5 schools around the world lacked proper facilities to encourage good hand-washing hygiene in 2019. Nearly 820 million children go to schools that lack basic hand-washing facilities, with around 355 million who attend schools that have water but no soap, according to the report. In the 60 countries at the highest risk of facing a humanitarian crisis due to Covid-19, more than half the children went to schools without proper sanitation. Children's education ought to be prioritized, UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore said in a statement, adding, “This means making sure that schools are safe to reopen — including with access to hand hygiene, clean drinking water and safe sanitation.”