Commons Sense

House of Commons · Westminster Hall

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: Sustainable Development

17 October 2023 · 10 other contributors · 10,690 words

Opened by Matthew Offord Con Hendon

Responding minister: Leo Docherty

ClimateForeign AffairsEnvironment

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Matthew Offord raised concerns about water, sanitation and hygiene: sustainable development in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.

Key points

  • MP is concerned about slow progress in improving access to water, sanitation, and hygiene, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable groups.
  • MP notes that UK aid for WASH has declined by two-thirds since 2018, with funding cut to approximately 70 million in 2021.
  • MP asks the Minister to indicate the level of prioritisation WASH will receive in the upcoming international development White Paper.

Key requests to Government

The MP asks the Minister to carefully consider evidence provided and indicate what level of prioritisation WASH will have in the upcoming international development White Paper. He also urges the Minister to commit to encouraging political dialogue and driving financial commitments for WASH in the build-up to a high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance at the UN General Assembly next September.

How the debate unfolded

MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.

Opened the debate

Matthew Offord Con Hendon

The MP is concerned about the slow progress in improving access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), particularly among the poorest and most vulnerable groups. He notes that over 1.9 billion people live in severely water-scarce areas, a number expected to rise to 3.2 billion by 2050 due to population growth and extreme weather events. The MP also highlights the decline in UK aid for WASH since 2018, with funding cut by two-thirds to approximately £70 million in 2021, despite polling indicating that water, sanitation, and hygiene are one of the top three most important ways of spending UK official aid development assistance. The MP stresses that investment in sustainable WASH services can have huge economic returns, contributing up to 21 times more value than their cost.

Other contributors (10)
  • Graham Thompson SNP East Kilbride

    Dr Thompson emphasised the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in achieving sustainable development goals. He highlighted that a fourfold increase in current rates of progress is needed to achieve universal access by 2030.

  • Rosena Allin-Khan Lab Tottenham

    Dr Allin-Khan emphasised the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in preventing diseases and promoting health security. She pointed out that 1.4 million lives are lost annually due to inadequate WASH facilities.

  • Fleur Anderson Lab Putney

    Campaigned for clean water, sanitation and hygiene as a fundamental to tackling poverty and inequality. Highlighted the global crisis with 1.9 billion people living in severely water-scarce areas and 2.2 billion without access to clean water and sanitation. Emphasised the lack of hygiene facilities in healthcare settings leading to high mortality rates among new-born babies, and raised concerns over antimicrobial resistance due to insufficient WASH infrastructure. Ms Anderson stressed the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in ensuring health security both internationally and within the UK. She highlighted that half a million children under five die each year due to diarrhoea caused by unsafe water or lack of sanitation. Mrs Anderson shared her work experience in Serbia during the war and emphasized the importance of WASH for women's safety, noting a link between access to toilet facilities and sexual exploitation.

  • Jim Shannon DUP Strangford

    Jim Shannon thanked the hon. Gentleman for bringing forward this debate and highlighted issues related to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). He cited research showing that 600 million children lack safe drinking water, 1.1 billion lack safe sanitation, and 690 million lack basic hygiene services, particularly affecting women, children, internally displaced persons, refugees, and minority communities. Shannon mentioned a worrying trend of Christian communities being deprived of access to WASH programmes and called for these programmes to be monitored to ensure access for religious minorities and displaced persons. Mr Shannon reminded everyone of the religious significance of water before leaving early for another meeting.

  • Lyn Brown Lab Tottenham

    Ms Brown highlighted the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in mitigating diseases, reducing poverty, and enhancing global health security. She pointed out that aid for WASH has been drastically reduced by over three quarters since 2018. Ms Brown expressed concerns about women and girls being disproportionately affected as they often spend significant time fetching water instead of pursuing education or earning a livelihood.

  • Maggie Throup Lab Erewash

    Stressed the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene in preventing infectious diseases. Mentioned UN estimates that 2.2 billion people lack safe drinking water and basic handwashing facilities, while 3.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation. Highlighted the disproportionate impact on women, with around 60% of household water collected by them. Discussed the link between poor WASH conditions and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), noting that AMR costs NHS £2 billion annually. Ms Throup spoke about her visit to Kenya through World Vision, focusing on sanitation and antimicrobial resistance. She highlighted that this kills more people than terrorism.

  • Robert Goodwill Con Hind Yar

    Mr Goodwill discussed the challenges faced in Syria and Cameroon, where millions are in need of WASH services. He noted that displaced populations often face severe shortages of clean water and sanitation facilities.

  • Diane Abbott Lab West Ham

    Ms Abbott emphasized the importance of hand washing and its global impact. She shared her visit to Cameroon and highlighted how microbial diseases spread easily across borders.

  • Patrick Grady SNP Glasgow North

    Cited the importance of access to clean water in sustainable development, highlighting that a lack thereof impacts health and quality of life. Noted that Malawi is on track for eliminating trachoma through proper WASH interventions, but emphasized the need for continued investment despite climate challenges. Mr Grady mentioned his visit to Malawi and discussed the three-day survival rule for water. He also brought up the issue of water access in Gaza, which Israel should allow according to Mr Offord.

  • Sarah Champion Lab Rotherham

    It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Latham. She acknowledges that Mrs Latham has served on the International Development Committee for 12 years. Sarah Champion highlighted the critical importance of access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene, stressing that it is a fundamental human need. She cited UN statistics indicating that in 2022, 2.2 billion people lacked safely managed drinking water, while 3.5 billion still lacked safely managed sanitation. The lack of WASH leads to serious health issues such as cholera, typhoid fever and diarrhoea, with an estimated 95,000 deaths from cholera alone annually. She pointed out the disproportionate impact on women and girls who spend 200 million hours daily fetching water, which hampers their educational and economic opportunities. Ms Champion discussed her Ugandan visit and raised concerns about diarrhoea, which is a major killer of children worldwide. She also mentioned the issue of eye health as important to WASH initiatives.

Government Response

Leo Docherty

I am pleased to serve under your chairship, Mrs Latham. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Dr Offord) for securing this important debate and all Members present appreciate his ongoing work as vice-chair of the APPG for water, sanitation and hygiene. The Minister with responsibility for development and Africa, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), would like to have been here but is attending to his duties in Cabinet this morning. I will address comments about the situation in Gaza, noting that £10 million has been announced for humanitarian use in Gaza on top of £27 million already going to the UN Relief and Works Agency and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Water and sanitation are basic human needs, essential for global health and end preventable deaths; however, billions worldwide lack access to safely managed water, sanitation, and hygiene services. The UK invested over £100 million in ODA spend into WASH last year, focusing on helping governments establish sustainable WASH facilities instead of direct delivery. Our Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition with Unilever supported nearly 15,000 healthcare facilities with critical supplies and services, training almost half a million health workers on hygiene. Two thirds of healthcare facilities in the least developed countries lack basic hygiene services, leading to increased antimicrobial resistance and higher rates of diarrhoea among women and girls who are most affected by poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene. The UK supports training on menstrual health and constructs suitable toilets in schools in Mozambique and Ethiopia for schoolgirls. We also back UNICEF's efforts to support climate-resilient WASH services and develop national adaptation plans in countries across Asia and Africa. Our WASH Systems for Health programme focuses on long-term provision of safe, climate-resilient services through system-wide approaches, political leadership, and data evidence. At the UN General Assembly, we made sure that new declarations on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response explicitly noted the WASH crisis. We will continue to lead at high levels, promoting partnerships with NGOs, governments, and the private sector while advocating for increased financing and political leadership in order to build a fairer, healthier, and safer future for billions of people.

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