Billions of people lack access to safely managed water supplies and sanitation facilities, according to a United Nations report on its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that provides a global blueprint for dignity, peace and prosperity for people and the planet.
Working actively towards achieving SDG 6: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all,” is medical geographer Susan Elliott. Most recently, she has tackled an understudied area: the psychosocial relationship between poor access to water and sanitation and health and well-being in countries such as Kenya, Uganda and Ghana. The work confirmed that various stressors, such as unsafe or distant water sources, or inadequate or unsafe sanitation facilities, caused negative psychosocial outcomes such as distress.
“As the global community begins to take stock of SDG interventions in the coming years,” she says, “policy-makers and practitioners must address some of the key social and cultural dimensions that influence access and use of water and sanitation facilities, particularly among women and girls.”