Article Synopsis

  • Safe drinking water is a recognized human right, but data on safe drinking water access is missing for over half the world's population.
  • In a study of 135 low- and middle-income countries, it was found that only one-third of people had access to safely managed drinking water services in 2020, with fecal contamination being a major issue affecting nearly 50% of the population.
  • The findings highlight the need for improved monitoring of water access and show how global geospatial data can help identify areas in need and address data shortages.

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Article Abstract

Safe drinking water access is a human right, but data on safely managed drinking water services (SMDWS) is lacking for more than half of the global population. We estimate SMDWS use in 135 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) at subnational levels with a geospatial modeling approach, combining existing household survey data with available global geospatial datasets. We estimate that only one in three people used SMDWS in LMICs in 2020 and identified fecal contamination as the primary limiting factor affecting almost half of the population of LMICs. Our results are relevant for raising awareness about the challenges and limitations of current global monitoring approaches and demonstrating how globally available geospatial data can be leveraged to fill data gaps and identify priority areas in LMICs.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adh9578DOI Listing

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