global achievement, the target for safe drinking water was met in 2010, well ahead of the MDG deadline of 2015. Over 90 per cent of the world’s population now has access to improved sources of drinking water.

And

The insights provided by the JMP data have enabled us to identify specific challenges and strengthen policy-making. For instance, we have seen that we must address not only the widespread need for sanitation, but also the difficult problem of open defecation, still practiced by almost a billion people. Open defecation is one of the clearest manifestations of extreme poverty.

That is why, in 2013, I launched a Call to Action on Sanitation on behalf of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Our aim is to eliminate open defecation by 2025 and to strengthen the partnerships that can make this happen. Addressing the sanitation crisis goes to the heart of ensuring good health, a clean environment and human dignity for all. 

Robust data, insightful analysis and compelling presentation will be important as we transition to the Sustainable Development Goals and their imperative to leave no one behind. UNICEF and WHO, through the JMP, have shown leadership in initiating the debate about future targets for water, sanitation and hygiene, and in bringing stakeholders together to discuss a vision for the future.

Water and sanitation are fundamental to human development and well-being. They are not just goals in their own right but also critical to the achievement of other development objectives such as adequate nutrition, gender equality, education and the eradication of poverty. Access to safe water and sanitation is also a human right, as recognized in 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly.

Eoin Treacy's view

In countries with inadequate water infrastructure women bear the primary role as water carriers which is a phenomenal waste of time and effort that could be used to achieve greater productivity and personal fulfilment. It is hardly a coincidence that countries that unfetter women for manual household labour progress quickly in terms of economic and human development. Achieving clean drinking water for 90% of the global population is a laudable result but providing adequate sanitation is an even bigger challenge but the potential benefits are worth it.