For every child, clean water!
Improving sanitation and hygiene to address stunting, diarrhea and trachoma, ending open defection, leveraging resources for access to water and sanitation in schools and health facilities, innovating to improve functioning of water supply
For every child, clean water!
Ethiopia's population expansion and the country's highly rapid urbanization rate continue to place a great burden on the country's water and sanitation facilities despite significant advances. 7 percent of Ethiopians have access to "at least basic sanitation services" (4% in rural areas and 20% in urban areas). Although significant progress has been made in minimizing the percentage of open defecation from 79 to 22 percent of the population, 38 percent of the rural population and 7 percent of the urban population continue to practice open defecation. Poor hygiene habits and fecal contamination of the environment continue to be major contributors to child mortality, illness, undernutrition, and stunting.
In Ethiopia, 60% to 80% of health problems are due to communicable diseases attributable to unsafe water supply, unhygienic and unsanitary waste disposal. In addition, an estimated 50 percent of the consequences of undernutrition are caused by environmental factors that include poor hygiene and lack of access to water supply and sanitation.
Diarrhea is the second leading cause of under-five mortality in Ethiopia next to ARI/Pneumonia, accounting for 14 per cent of all under-five deaths – more than 25,000 children a year.
By improving service delivery, utility management, and an enabling environment, UNICEF is supporting the Government of Ethiopia in increasing the number of people who have access to basic water and sanitation services.
Water and sanitation in numbers
- 49.6 per cent have access to basic water supply coverage
- 8.9 per cent have access to basic sanitation coverage
- 60 - 80 per cent of communicable diseases are attributed to limited access to safe water and inadequate sanitation and hygiene services
- 4.8 per cent have access to basic hygiene coverage
- 25,000 under-five deaths per year due to diarrhea
- 17 per cent of people practice improved hygiene behavior and live in healthy environments.
UNICEF ensures that the Ethiopian population, especially women, children, adolescent girls, and vulnerable groups, have equitable access to safely managed water supply and sanitation services, end open defecation, and adopt appropriate hygiene practices, including menstrual health and hygiene, in households, communities and institutions in rural and urban areas. UNICEF collaborates with the Government on the ONEWASH National Programme, a sector-wide and multi-sectoral approach to WASH programming.
Sanitation promotion, hygiene, and Baby WASH, in areas with a high prevalence of stunting and diarrhea, are a significant focus of UNICEF’s work. UNICEF innovates to improve the functioning and resilience of water supplies in water-insecure districts and to expand urban sanitation and water service delivery. In a country with regions that face chronic drought, UNICEF is supporting the OneWASH programme to strengthen its climate resilience through the promotion of sustainable deep boreholes linked to multi-village supply systems. UNICEF also strengthens sector coordination for development and emergency programming.
Through the network of more than 38,800 Health Extension Workers supported by Social and Behavior Change Communication, UNICEF promotes hygiene and sanitation. A National Sanitation Marketing guideline from the Ministry of Health is used to increase the supply and demand for culturally accepted and improved sanitation products and business models along with a promotional strategy. UNICEF has played a leading role in developing a National Urban Sanitation Strategy to address the gaps and challenges in urban sanitation.
UNICEF strengthens the capacity of the WASH sector through evidence-based strategic planning, coordination, and implementation of development and emergency interventions. Improving knowledge management through data generation to inform and strengthen service delivery, policies, procedures, monitoring, and evaluation is a key focus.
Due to high levels of multi-dimensional vulnerabilities and inadequate capacities to deal with shocks, Ethiopians continue to be vulnerable to a wide range of risks that lead to large-scale emergencies. The WASH Program will continue to place a high priority on saving the lives of children and their families dealing with sudden, ongoing, or recurrent complex humanitarian crises. In emergencies, UNICEF enhances sector coordination and technical support to partners for effective and timely responses to populations affected by WASH emergencies in line with minimum standards.