World Health Organization
World Health Organization is a international organization that is part of the pulse of the water sector. Here we bring together everything it publishes on Smart Water Magazine: its news, its blogs and the events it takes part in.
“Access shows today’s coverage, but governance, financing and workforce shape tomorrow’s services”
With less than five years remaining to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6, the global water sector is confronting a critical question: why is progress on safe water, sanitation and hygiene still uneven despite decades of investment and policy commitments? The latest UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) report provides part of […]
New UN-Water GLAAS findings: stronger WASH systems needed for safe drinking-water and sanitation
Urgent action is needed to strengthen national water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) systems so countries can accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 and protect health, especially in the face of growing climate-related risks and recurring disease outbreaks. New findings from State of systems for drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: Global update 2025, the UN-Water […]
Tracker on water, sanitation and hygiene in health-care facilities shows progress in 107 countries
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have released an updated country progress tracker that shows how countries are advancing efforts to improve water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and waste services in health-care facilities. The tracker, now covering 107 countries – up from 75 two years ago – underpins global monitoring against the 2023 United Nations General Assembly Resolution on […]
WHO publishes 54 pathogen background documents to support safe water and sanitation systems
In a move to strengthen global efforts against waterborne disease, WHO has released 54 WASH-related pathogens new technical background documents — announced yesterday at a global water microbiology conference in the Netherlands — that capture the latest science on pathogens linked to drinking-water and sanitation systems. Unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene (WASH) continue to expose billions of […]
New global guidance on managing wastewater and solid waste from antibiotic manufacturing
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published its first-ever guidance on antibiotic pollution from manufacturing. The new guidance on wastewater and solid waste management for antibiotic manufacturing sheds light on this important but neglected challenge ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) taking place on 26 September 2024. The […]
Africa faces disproportionate burden from climate change and adaptation costs
Africa bears an increasingly heavy burden from climate change and disproportionately high costs for essential climate adaptation, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Temperature increases in Africa slightly above the global average Multi-year droughts continued in northwest Africa in 2023 Extreme floods caused severe losses and damages African countries face […]
Global report reveals major gaps in menstrual health and hygiene in schools
Around the world, menstrual health and hygiene needs are being overlooked due to limited access to information, education, products and services, as well as inadequate facilities and inequalities. A new report, Progress on drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in schools 2000–2023: special focus on menstrual health, launched by UNICEF and WHO on Menstrual Hygiene Day, analyses for […]
WHO releases guidelines and tools to enhance small water supplies
Today, WHO has released guidelines and tools to improve small water supplies. The newly launched Guidelines for drinking water quality: small water supplies, and associated Sanitary inspection packages, aim to improve water quality, build more resilient service delivery, and combat disease surges in vulnerable and resource-constrained communities. “Investing in small water supplies serves as a dual strategy: […]
WMO confirms that 2023 smashes global temperature record
2023 annual average global temperature 1.45 ± 0.12 °C above pre-industrial levels. World edges ever closer toward the limits set in the Paris Agreement. El Niño combines with climate change to fuel heat in latter half of 2023. 2024 expected to be possibly even warmer. Record heat accompanied by huge socioeconomic impacts.