Health centre water crisis increasing virus risk: WHO

The drought affecting the Cerro Lake, allegedly polluted by chemical disposals from a tannery located on its banks, is visible on October 19, 2020, in Limpio, 25 km northeast of Asuncion, Paraguay. (Photo by Norberto DUARTE / AFP)

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — One in four health centres worldwide lacks access to water, putting around 1.8 billion people at increased risk of contracting the coronavirus, the World Health Organization said Monday.

The lack of this basic amenity endangers patients and staff alike at such centres, the WHO said in a joint report with the UN children’s agency UNICEF. The study was based on data from 165 countries.

“Working in a healthcare facility without water, sanitation and hygiene is akin to sending nurses and doctors to work without personal protective equipment,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

These elements “are fundamental to stopping Covid-19. But there are still major gaps to overcome, particularly in least developed countries.”

According to WHO figures, while health professionals make up less than three percent of the population, they account for 14 percent of Covid-19 cases recorded around the world.

A general view taken on October 21, 2020 shows the Bromma wastewater treatment plant, in Bromma, near Stockholm. – Researchers have been testing wastewater from three facilities in Stockholm since mid-April after studies showed that remnants of the novel coronavirus could be detected in sewage water. The sewage water testing could help provide important insights into the spread and prevalence of the disease without the need for expensive widespread individual tests. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP)

“Sending healthcare workers and people in need of treatment to facilities without clean water, safe toilets or even soap puts their lives at risk,” said UNICEF chief Henrietta Fore.

The report also found that one in three health facilities around the world could not guarantee hand hygiene, while one in 10 did not have access to sanitation services.

The figures are even worse for the world’s 47 least-developed countries (LDCs), where half of healthcare centres have no access to drinking water, a quarter have no access to water for hygiene purposes, and three in five lack basic sanitation services.

The gates of the unusually low drought affected Carraizo dam are seen closed in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico on June 29, 2020. – The drought in Puerto Rico will force its residents to suffer water rationing since June 25, after suffering two destructive hurricanes, a series of earthquakes, the pandemic and, lately, seeing its sky darkened by dust from the Sahara. (Photo by Ricardo ARDUENGO / AFP)

The WHO and UNICEF calculated that it would cost around $1 per inhabitant to provide basic water services in these countries’ health centres — and 20 cents each to maintain such facilities each year.