Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health - Newsletter N° 155 / 4 May 2012

Just released: UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) WSH completed the analysis and assessment for UN-Water and the GLAAS 2012 report was launched by the Chair of UN-Water, Michel Jarraud, on 12 April 2012.

The report can now be downloaded in its definitive version from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2012/9789241503365_eng.pdf.

It presents new data from 74 low- and middle-income countries and 24 external support agencies, illustrating the status of key efforts and trends relating to securing increased water, sanitation and hygiene provision. The report warns that sanitation and drinking-water service coverage could regress if adequate resources are not secured to sustain routine operation and maintenance, and also points to the needs for increased efforts to continue positive trends in resource targeting, to enhance countries' absorption capacity of aid funds and to accelerate human resource development.

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New staff join WSH

In April, two new staff members joined WSH in the area of Water Quality and Health. Kate Medlicott, an environmental engineer from New Zealand, has taken up responsibilities for the safe use of wastewater in agriculture and aquaculture - Kate was with the WHO Country Office in Vientiane Lao PDR before coming to Geneva. Jennifer De France has taken up responsibilities for drinking-water quality and water safety planning - Jennifer is a chemical engineer from the USA and her last assignment was with the WHO Collaborating Centre, the National Sanitation Foundation, as an outposted secondee to WHO. A warm welcome to both.

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UN-Water at IFAT Munich, Germany 7-11 May 2012

WHO/WSH will be present next week at the UN-Water stand at the 2012 IFAT in Munich. IFAT is an annual global trade fair for Water, Sewage, Waste and Raw Materials Management. The UN-Water stand is in Hall A5, booth 209/308. A special UN-Water session on Wednesday 9 May will include a session on the safe use of wastewater in agriculture (09:30-11:00, in the ICM International Congress Centre room 14B). For more information: http://www.unwater.org