Saving lives: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Thematic Strategy

Improving public health by increasing access to safe water and sanitation is one of the ten development objectives of the Australian aid program.

Access to safe water and basic sanitation combined with good hygiene behaviours (WASH) underpins Australia’s ability to deliver public health outcomes and significant economic benefits for developing countries.

Australia’s approach will centre on three pillars:

Increased access to safe water and basic sanitation: Facilitate increased access to safe water and basic sanitation that results in the provision of universally accessible facilities
Improved hygiene behaviour: Support the development of increased capacity to ensure hygiene promotion services bring about sustainable behaviour change
Creating sustainable services: Support policies and strategies to keep services operating through effective governance and partnerships with multilateral agencies, civil society and business.

Investment in WASH programs will use delivery mechanisms and partnerships that are effective and deliver real results for poor people.

Australia will continue to focus support for WASH on East Asia and the Pacific with expanding programs in Africa and South Asia, particularly to support improvements in global sanitation by 2015.

The WASH thematic strategy informs Australia’s program decisions in this sector:

Saving lives—Improving public health by increasing access to safe water and sanitation

The importance of clean water and effective sanitation

Access to clean water and effective sanitation has a catalytic effect on many aspects of human development, being essential for a healthy population and environmental sustainability.

The Joint Monitoring Program’s 2010 'Progress on Sanitation and Drinking-Water report' estimated that 2.6 billion people do not have access to hygienic sanitation and almost 900 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 88 per cent of diarrhoeal disease is attributed to unsafe water supply, inadequate sanitation and hygiene. High incidence of vector-borne disease, intestinal disease, and trachoma in developing countries is strongly correlated with unsanitary practices and the absence of nearby sources of safe water.

Millennium Development Goal (MDG7) Target 7c, aims to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, relative to 1990 levels. At the current rate of progress the world is unlikely to meet the target for sanitation. However, progress against the drinking water target is tracking well and the world is expected to exceed the target.

Australia's response

The Australian Government recognises the importance that improving water and sanitation can have on the health and livelihoods of people living in poverty. The Australian Government is planning to spend up to $900 million over four years from 2011–12 to improve access to safe water and basic sanitation and improve hygiene practices across the Asia Pacific region and Africa. This builds on the programs developed under the Water and Sanitation Initiative funding (2008–09 to 2010–11).

Australia is committed to working with developing country governments, private and non-government entities, and bilateral and multilateral development agencies to improve access to clean water and effective sanitation in urban, peri-urban and rural areas, and improve water security by protecting freshwater sources.

Significant programs are currently underway in Africa, Asia and the Pacific:

In Timor-Leste the Australian Government has provided long term support for water, sanitation and hygiene. Since 2002 approximately 100,00 people have gained access to improved water systems and sanitation through the Australian Government-funded Community Water Supply and Sanitation Program (2002-2006) and the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Program (2007-12).
Australia’s support for Vietnam’s National Target Program on Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Phase 2 (NTP2: 2006–2010) has contributed to significant results over the program’s five year implementation period. In 2010 alone 2.5 million people gained access to ‘hygienic’ water and 756,000 households gained access to latrines.
In Indonesia the Australian Government-funded output-based grant (hibah) program is providing connections for 76,000 households to safe piped water and 7,000 household connections to sewers.

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Last reviewed: 23 November, 2011