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Sanitation & Hygiene

Sanitation and hygiene are critical to health, survival, and development. Many countries are challenged in providing adequate sanitation for their entire populations, leaving people at risk for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)-related diseases. Photo of a bathroom sign showing the symbols for male and female Throughout the world, an estimated 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation (almost 40% of the world's population)(1). Basic sanitation is described as having access to facilities for the safe disposal of human waste (feces and urine), as well as having the ability to maintain hygienic conditions, through services such as garbage collection, industrial/hazardous waste management, and wastewater treatment and disposal.

In order to meet the United Nations' Millennium Development Goal to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, an additional 1.1 billion people will need access to an improved water source and 1.6 billion will need access to basic sanitation between 2005–2015 (1).

For more information on CDC programs that address issues of water, sanitation, and hygiene, visit CDC Healthy Water's Global WASH-related Diseases and Global WASH-related Programs pages.

1. World Health Organization and UNICEF. Meeting the MDG Drinking Water and Sanitation Target: The Urban and Rural Challenge of the Decade. Available at http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/monitoring/jmpfinal.pdf .

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