Maldives participates in 2019 'Sanitation and Water for All' Sector Ministerial Meeting

Maldives took part in the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) Sector Ministers' Meeting (SMM) 2019, held at San José, Costa Rica on Thursday and Friday, represented by Minister of State for the Ministry of Environment Ahmed Mujthaba.

Organized by SAW and co-convened by UNICEF and the Inter-American Development Bank, the meeting is aimed at garnering support towards the achievement of targets related to water, sanitation and hygiene from United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Bringing together ministers, government officials and leaders from relevant stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, donors, development banks and UN agencies, the meeting saw the tabling of commitments to action by 50 ministers from over 47 countries.

The delegations also committed to raise global awareness of water, sanitation and hygiene problems, ranging from the effects of climate change to menstrual hygiene and more.

“A record number of ministers are attending this meeting, a clear indication that countries realize the Sustainable Development Goals will only be achieved by putting the furthest behind first.", said SWA's Chair Kevin Rudd.

"This can only be achieved by the full-scale mobilization of finance from all sources – national governments, developments banks, private financial institutions and other creative forms of community funding for local sanitation water infrastructure projects”

The results of SMM will contribute to discussions at the United Nations High-level Political Forum in July 2019 and the SWA Finance Ministers’ Meeting in 2020.

As per SWA, 30 percent of the world’s population – 2.1 billion people – still lack basic sanitation service, and 844 million people do not have access to basic drinking water. Diarrhoeal diseases caused by lack of access to clean water and sanitation, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kill 700 children under 5 years old every day.