Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene | 2000-2020: Five years into the SDGs

INTRODUCTION

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) produces internationally comparable estimates of progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and is responsible for global monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets related to WASH. This snapshot presents regional estimates for WASH in households, schools and health care facilities in the African Union and assesses progress five years into the SDG period (2015-2020).

Achieving SDG WASH targets in Africa will require a dramatic acceleration in current rates of progress.

KEY MESSAGES

1. In Africa, 39% of the population used safely managed drinking water, 27% used safely managed sanitation and 37% used basic hygiene in 2020.

2. Achieving the 2030 SDG targets will require a 12x increase in current rates of progress on safely managed drinking water, 20x increase for safely managed sanitation and a 42x increase for basic hygiene services.

3. In urban areas, 2 out of 5 people still lack safely managed drinking water, 2 out of 3 people lack safely managed sanitation, and half the population lacks basic hygiene services.

4. In rural areas, 3 out of 4 people lack safely managed drinking water, 3 out of 4 people lack safely managed sanitation, and 7 out of 10 lack basic hygiene services.

5. Between 2000 and 2020, the population of Africa has increased from 800 million to 1.3 billion. 500 million people have gained access to at least basic drinking water and 290 million gained access to at least basic sanitation services.

6. But 411 million people still lack even a basic drinking water service, 779 million lack basic sanitation services (including 208 million who still practise open defecation), and 839 million still lack basic hygiene services.

7. Significant inequalities persist between and within countries, including between urban and rural, between sub-national regions and between the richest and the poorest.

8. Among the 42 countries with >1% open defecation in 2020, only 7 countries are currently on track to eliminate open defecation by 2030.

9. Data availability is improving but large data gaps remain. In 2020, only 21 countries had estimates for safely managed drinking water, 26 countries had estimates for safely managed sanitation, and 37 countries had estimates for basic hygiene services.

10. In Africa 47% of schools had basic drinking water, 54% have basic sanitation and 38% have basic hygiene services in 2019.

11. In Africa 46% of health facilities have basic water services, 29% have basic sanitation services and 40% have basic health care waste management services.