A Children's and Education Crisis
Access to safe water and sanitation gives kids time and health for school
When children don’t have access to water at home, they are often responsible for collecting it for their families. Sharing the burden with their mothers, girls around the world spend 200 million hours each day collecting water. This takes time away from school. Likewise, poor sanitation keeps kids, especially girls, from being able to go to school.
Without access to safe water, water-related illnesses often keep children out of school. Access to safe water and sanitation is critical to the development of a healthy child and foundational to the education of children around the world.
The water crisis impacts girls around the world
Girls who lack access to safe water and sanitation at home or at school face significant challenges. Compounded by the fact that their safety and health are at risk when they have no choice but to defecate in the open, menstruation poses another reason why girls in impoverished, water-insecure communities do not go to school. Access to water and sanitation changes this. For every year a girl stays in school, her income as an adult is expected to increase by 20%.
An investment in a child’s education is an investment in our future
Millions of families around the world don’t have the upfront resources to invest in two of the most critical resources for getting their kids to school – safe water and a toilet at home. Access to safe water means kids can look beyond the water crisis and ahead to bright futures.
Reductions in time spent collecting water increase school attendance
Access to safe water and sanitation at home changes everything. Read about how access to safe water and sanitation empowered Joslin and her friends with the time and health to go to school.
References
- World Health Organization and UNICEF. (2025). Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene 2020-2024: Special focus on inequalities.
- World Health Organization and UNICEF. (2024). Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in schools 2015-2023: Special focus on menstrual health.
- World Health Organization, UNICEF, and World Bank. (2022). State of the world’s drinking water: an urgent call to action to accelerate progress on ensuring safe drinking water for all.
- World Health Organization and UNICEF. (2020). State of the World's Sanitation: An urgent call to transform sanitation for better health, environments, economies and societies.
- Hutton, G., and M. Varughese. (2020). Costs of Meeting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal Targets on Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene.
- United Nations. (2019). UN-Water Policy Brief on Climate Change and Water.
- United Nations. (2021). Summary Progress Update 2021: SDG 6 — water and sanitation for all.
When kids have safe water at home, they have time to go to school.
Donate