Water insecurity compounds the global coronavirus crisis

ABSTRACT

Household water insecurity may exacerbate the COVID-19 pandemic and exact an even greater toll on people, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America, simply because too many people do not have access to safe and secure water services, including water supply and sanitation, at home. Recent studies have shown that as many as a quarter of households in the Global South may be unable to practise necessary hand hygiene. Megacities may be at particular risk of being unable to manage the COVID-19 pandemic due to sheer population density as well as a lack of reliable clean water and sanitation. Problems of water insecurity are not restricted to the Global South but extend into higher-income countries as well. The steady decline in provision of public sanitation around the world, even in wealthy countries, makes adequate hygiene an even more intractable problem.