Charity reports fewer than one third of appeals for water and hygiene support were met in 2022

Charity, Action Against Hunger, has reported that only 30% of appeals for humanitarian support for water, and hygiene (WASH) related programmes were met in 2022 despite the connection between decreased water funding and growing sanitation.

In its report: Funding the World’s Water Funding Crisis: How Donors Are Missing the Mark, Action Against Hunger found that in 2022, no WASH appeals were fully funded for 13 countries experiencing “crisis” levels of hunger. Yet, according to head of advocacy at Action Against Hunger UK, Kate Munro, “There are many root causes of hunger and lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation is one of them.”

Action Against Hunger had looked at data for 41 countries that used the UN humanitarian system to request humanitarian assistance for WASH programmes in 2022.

The charity said dirty water contributed to more than 1.5 million deaths a year, with many due to malnutrition linked to water-borne disease. “When people think about hunger, water is not always part of that conversation,” said Action Against Hunger’s senior WASH advisor, Jean Lapegue. Action Against Hunger calculated that to fully fund WASH-related appeals through the UN humanitarian system, it would take an additional £2.1bn.

When looking at funding for countries dealing with crisis levels of hunger (or worse), Action Against Hunger said it found a 53% gap in funding for hunger programmes, a 62% gap in WASH funding, and a 55% gap in health funding. “However, UK government spending on water and sanitation in these countries has fallen by two thirds since 2018. The level of cuts in this area far outstrips the 0.2% fall in the aid budget overall,” said Munro.