WHA64 adopts Drinking-water, Sanitation and Health Resolution
On 24 May 2011, the 65th World Health Assembly unanimously adopted Resolution 64/24 on Drinking-water, Sanitation and Health, urging Member States, inter alia, to highlight the importance of safe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene as the basis for primary prevention in national public health strategies and to ensure that these strategies contribute to the achievement of the water- and sanitation-related MDG target and to the progressive realization of the human right to water and sanitation. It requests the Director-General, inter alia, to formulate a new, integrated WHO strategy for water, sanitation and health with a focus on water quality and monitoring issues, and to increase technical assistance for enhanced drinking-water quality management.
This was the first time in 20 years that the Assembly adopted a Resolution specifically addressing drinking-water and sanitation.
Significantly, the Assembly also adopted Resolution 64/15 on Cholera: mechanism for control and prevention, calling attention to the key role of access to clean water and adequate sanitation in cholera prevention, and requesting the Director-General to revitalize the Global Task Force on Cholera Control.
Finally, the adoption of Resolution 64/16 Eradication of dracunculiasis re-affirms the Assembly’s conviction that eradication of this parasitic infection from its last hotspots in Africa is an attainable goal and that access to safe drinking-water, and the use of cloth and pipe filters are critical pillars of the strategy for final eradication.
WHA resolutions
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Drinking-Water, Sanitation and Health
Resolution 64/24 -
Cholera: mechanism for control and prevention
Resolution 64/15 -
Eradication of dracunculiasis
Resolution 64/16