Women for Water implementing SDG Target 6.2 in Bulgaria
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Protecting human health and well-being
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SDG Target 6.2
Achieving universal access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene by 2030 is a major challenge in many parts of the world. Target 6.2 calls for countries to end open defecation, to ensure that everyone has access to a basic toilet and to put in place systems for safe management of excreta. The global population using at least a basic sanitation service increased from 59 per cent in 2000 to 68 per cent between in 2015. However, 2.3 billion people still lacked basic services, 70 per cent were in rural areas, and just 1 in 10 countries below 95 per cent coverage is on track to achieve universal coverage by 2030. Furthermore, 4.5 billion people worldwide lacked a safely managed sanitation service in 2015, where excreta were safely disposed of in-situ or treated off-site. Target 6.2 also highlights the importance of hygiene and calls for special attention to the needs of women and girls. Handwashing with soap and water is widely recognized as a top priority for reducing disease transmission. The global status is not yet known, but least developed countries (LDCs) had the lowest coverage: only 27 per cent had basic handwashing facilities, though coverage was higher in urban areas. Source: SDG 6 Synthesis Report 2018 on Water and Sanitation |