11 July 2024
Governments from over 20 countries gathered in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 25-27 June 2024, for the inaugural Global Sanitation Summit. Backed by the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF), WaterAid and the World Health Organization (WHO), the Summit aimed to accelerate progress towards universal access to safely managed sanitation.
The Summit highlighted the urgent need for sector alignment and coordination to advance safely managed sanitation and overall water, sanitation and hygiene system strengthening.
The Summit agenda focused on promoting greater alignment of:
- UNICEF Game plan to reach safely managed sanitation 2022–2030
- WHO Guidelines for sanitation and health
- Sanitation Safety Planning approach
It was also discussed that WHO and UNICEF, together with other partners, have spearheaded efforts to focus on climate resilient sanitation through the Climate Resilient Sanitation Coalition (CRSC).
A key focus at the Summit was on bridging knowledge gaps on topics relating to financing, equity, national policies, regulations, standards and implementation strategies within and across organizations.
The Summit also served as a platform for introducing the upcoming “Eight steps towards safely managed sanitation framework”, which will be formally launched in November on World Toilet Day.
Explore more details on the outcomes of the Summit here.
