Time to come clean on handwashing investment: Op-ed

"Now wash your hands." Often seen on the walls of public toilets around the world, this phrase highlights how vital handwashing is in preventing the spread of diseases. Yet for millions of people, the signs might as well say, "Now fly to the moon."

At the current rate of progress, only 78 percent of the global population will have basic handwashing facilities by 2030, leaving 1.9 billion people at risk from illness and disease.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, health experts highlighted handwashing as a key measure, yet an estimated three in 10 people worldwide were not able to wash their hands with soap and water at home.

The situation in health facilities is also dire. One in four lack basic water services and one in three lack hand hygiene facilities where care is provided, meaning health centers risk becoming breeding grounds for illness.

Handwashing campaigns have pushed for equitable, affordable access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, or WASH, services, including in health-care facilities and schools - for many years.

Successes include programs like the Hygiene Behavior Change Coalition led by the U.K. government, Unilever, and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which reached one billion people through hygiene behavior change during the pandemic.

To make this a reality, however, for everyone, everywhere, both now and in future health emergencies, a concerted global effort is required, with targeted investments by national governments playing a key role.

For too long, hygiene services have been overlooked and underfunded. For everyone to have somewhere to wash their hands at home by 2030, we need to start making progress in some areas up to four times faster.

A failure...

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