SHARE Research Features at SWA High Level Meeting

The Sanitation and Water for All High-Level Meetings took place this year on 19–20 April 2017 in Washington D.C., USA. It comprised of two main meetings, one of which was a Finance Ministers’ Meeting, convened by the World Bank on behalf of the SWA partnership. 

The main objective of this meeting was to receive endorsements of key policy principles on sector financing required to meet the WASH-related SDG targets, and it explicitly focussed on eliminating inefficiencies and achieving universal access.

Anthony Lake, UNICEF’s Executive Director, discussed the impact that improved WASH can have on disadvantaged communities around the world. He explained that investing in the most disadvantaged communities can foster the greatest results. Referencing a SHARE-funded research paper published in 2013, he noted that “improving sanitation for the poorest households actually brings greater, more immediate health benefits for all, than by focusing just on wealthier households”.

He continued in a similar vein, discussing how children in the poorest households are the most at-risk from diarrhoeal diseases and early mortality.

Dr Lake summed up his introduction by telling the audience that “investing more in those in greatest need is not only the right thing to do — but the most cost-effective. And it represents the best path to the achieving truly “universal” water and sanitation services.”