Taking stock of progress five years into the SDG period, this report presents national, regional and global estimates to assess progress on household WASH for the period 2000 to 2020. The authors evaluate the status of WASH services in 2020 and consider the progress made since 2015. They also assess the acceleration required to meet the SDG targets by 2030.
The paper reviews global trends in the availability of data for monitoring the SDG WASH indicators and presents emerging data on new indicators related to menstrual health. It documents inequalities in drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (and menstrual health) between and within countries, and highlights the particular challenges faced by those living in fragile contexts, which often have much lower coverage and rates of progress on WASH services and will need to be a major focus of efforts to build back better after the pandemic and accelerate progress towards the 2030 targets.
This is a crucial resource to understand the priorities ahead in WASH in the decade 2020-2030, including to reach the goal of safely managed sanitation for all. The report is accurate, uses a wealth of data, and includes not only progress data but also reflections on gaps and priorities. All sanitation stakeholders would benefit from reading through at least some parts of this, for evidence-based programming.