WHO water, sanitation, hygiene and waste strategy 2026-2035

Overview

Unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) still drive at least 1.4 million preventable deaths each
year (1), while climate shocks, outbreaks, migration and aging infrastructure present additional
challenges. Despite gains since 2015, 1 in 4 – or 2.1 billion people globally – still lack access to safely
managed drinking water, including 106 million who drink directly from untreated surface sources;
3.4 billion people still lack safely managed sanitation, including 354 million who practice open
defecation.

Addressing these persistent gaps requires coordinated global action, and WHO’s leadership on
WASH is a critical part of that effort. By setting evidence-based norms and standards, strengthening
regulatory and monitoring systems, and supporting countries to embed WASH into health policies
and service delivery, WHO helps translate proven interventions into sustained impact.

The WHO water, sanitation, hygiene and waste strategy 2026–2035 offers an opportunity to
strengthen WHO’s contribution to improving health through WASH actions within and beyond WHO,
to reinforce WHO’s influence within WASH partnerships, to mobilize investment, to strengthen
alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and relevant regional policy frameworks,
and to build on synergies between the SDGs, health and WASH.