WATER , SANITATION AND HYGIENE

SITUATION
Lack of water and sanitation is one of the biggest issues affecting
the health of children across Cambodia, particularly those who
live in the countryside. Too many children are still denied the
most basic rights to safe water, the dignity of using a toilet
and the simple practice of washing hands with soap. The
consequences for children are severe, as high occurrences of
diarrhoea, skin disease, respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia,
intestinal and other waterborne and excreta-related diseases cast
a shadow over child health and in many cases, result in death.
High incidences of diarrhoeal diseases alone account for one fth
of the deaths of children age ve and under in Cambodia, and
an estimated 10,000 overall deaths annually, largely owing to lack
of sanitation and poor hygiene practices.
Improving hygiene through use of latrines and hand
washing with soap, protecting water sources from faecal
contamination, ensuring sustainable sources of water,
as well as monitoring water quality remain key challenges
for Cambodia.
Disparities in access to water and sanitation between urban
and rural areas, across and within provinces and among
different wealth groups are clear. People living in urban areas
of the country have three times more access to sanitation than
those living in rural and peri-urban areas, diarrhoea prevalence
is ve times greater in some regions than others, and the rich
have 22 times more access to piped water than the poor.
UNICEF believes there are many solutions to these issues
and is working with the government to harness innovative
approaches and new ideas to address the long-standing
problems of low sanitation coverage, unsustained usage
of toilets and poor water quality. However, more must be done
to put these solutions into action through initiatives that build
KEY PARTNERSHIPS IN WATER,
SANITATION AND HYGIENE
UNICEF works closely with the government to
support the national strategy for rural water supply,
sanitation and hygiene. Our main government
partners in this area are:
Ministry of Rural Development
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport
UNICEF contributes to national coordination efforts
through its role as the lead development partner
facilitator in the Technical Working Group for Rural
Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, led by the
Ministry of Rural Development.
Other key partners include the World Health
Organization, World Bank, Asian Development Bank
and local and international NGOs.
the capacity of local people to ensure these basic services
and facilities are available, affordable and appropriate, and
that they remain operational over the long-term.
UNICEF promotes a package of appropriate, affordable sanita-
tion, water and hand washing facilities in schools, health centres
and households, which meet the specic needs of communities.
UNICEF programmes promote water, sanitation and hygiene
ladders, which introduce basic technologies that may be
upgraded when families can afford to do so.
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL 7:
ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
UNICEFs work on water, sanitation and hygiene
contributes to achieving target 3 of MDG 7: to halve,
by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable
access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
Increasing water and sanitation access for the poor
has a fundamental impact on MDG measures related
to poverty, gender equality, health and education.
IMPROVING CAPACITY TO DELIVER ON
WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE
Sustainable improvements in hygiene behaviour patterns
require more than education activities. At the same time,
water, sanitation and hygiene facilities are not sufcient
on their own to improve health.
Over the years, UNICEFs work on water, sanitation and
hygiene has shifted from an emphasis on provision of water
supply hardware such as hand pumps and wells to a more
holistic approach that combines provision of facilities with
the promotion of behaviour change and supportive policies
and institutions.
The development of policies, institutions and community
capacity to manage and sustain hygiene, water and sanitation
programmes is essential for long-term success. In Cambodia,
UNICEF works with the government and other partners to
create conditions for change or enabling environments
to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of all water,
sanitation and hygiene efforts.
Communities must be equipped with the knowledge and
skills to effectively manage their own facilities and to demand
high-quality services from government, civil society and the
private sector.
Engagement of the private sector through sanitation marketing
will encourage local producers to design and sell affordable
sanitation facilities to households, avoiding the need for direct
subsidies to households.
This model has been shown to be effective in areas where
communities have been mobilised through community
empowerment and participatory approaches like community-
led total sanitation. This helps to free the limited resources
of government and development partners to focus on the
poorest and unreached areas, ensuring quality and appropriate
products and services are available to all.
UNICEF works with the government at national, provincial and
local levels to develop their capacity to deliver water, sanitation
and hygiene services. Governments are encouraged to develop
national strategies that are tailored to local priorities and
needs, whilst addressing in particular the interests
of the poor.
WHAT WE DO
Support capacity development of the provincial and local
level government to develop action plans to operationalize
the national rural water supply, sanitation and hygiene strat-
egy to effectively deliver on water, hygiene and sanitation.
Together with partners, strengthen national capacities
to use monitoring in policy development, planning and
resource allocation.
Build the capacity of the government to collect and dissemi-
nate accurate information on access to water and sanitation
services, including disaggregated information on levels of
access by vulnerable and marginalised groups.
Advocate for an increase in government resources by
demonstrating the economic and social benets of
investment in water, sanitation and hygiene.
Continue to advocate for open markets and opportunities
for sanitation marketing so that affordable sanitation options
are made available to households.
Support the government to establish appropriate regulatory
mechanisms to create a competitive environment that will
attract private sector service providers to invest in water,
sanitation and hygiene improvements in the country.
IMPACT
UNICEF has contributed signicantly to policy dialogues
that have led to the establishment of the Technical Working
Group on Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene in
2007, the development of a National Strategic Action Plan
for Arsenic Mitigation, and a National Strategy for Rural
Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene in 2010.
A sub-decree on National Sanitation Day signed by the
Prime Minister in 2010 and a joint Prakas (Declaration)
between the Ministry of Rural Development and the
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport on school and
community sanitation and hygiene were also key results
of intensive collaboration with UNICEF.
These initiatives have led to stronger leadership of the
Ministry of Rural Development in coordinating and leading
the rural water supply, sanitation and hygiene sector.
PROMOTING KEY HYGIENE BEHAVIOURS
Creating clean environments for children averts threats to
their health and supports the best chance at a prosperous life.
Less than 1 in 3 Cambodians have access to latrines and hand
washing facilities, one of the lowest rates in Southeast Asia.
According to the World Health Organization diarrhoea continues
to be the second leading cause of death among children in
East Asia. Nearly 70 per cent of Cambodias rural population
roughly 6.4 million people still practice open defecation as
their principle sanitation option. Findings from a 2010 National
Sanitation and Hygiene Survey show that only 31.8 per cent
of Cambodians use latrines, only 16.7 per cent of Cambodians
have a xed hand washing place in their homes and only 62 per
cent of respondents reported practising hand washing. Yet, the
use of a toilet can decrease diarrhoeal deaths by 30 per cent and
hand washing with soap by more than 40 per cent.
UNICEFs hygiene awareness and promotion efforts focus
on changing behaviour by communicating key hygiene
practices such as hand washing with soap, using toilets,
treating and drinking safe water. UNICEF works with national
and local governments and village leaders to create healthy
environments for children that prevent water-borne diseases
by leveraging local resources and community solutions to
promote good hygiene behaviours.
Children and youth are encouraged to be agents of change
in their families and communities through initiatives such as
life skills training programmes, curriculum development and
integrated sanitation and hygiene education in schools.
Sustainable sanitation technology options are required for
areas in the country that are prone to ooding and have
a high water table and/or unstable soils. In these areas,
conventional technologies like dry pit latrines are not suitable
or socially appropriate, often leading to the preference
for open defecation, which leads to the contamination of
precious water sources. UNICEF and development partners
are working to nd affordable or cost-effective solutions,
which address needs in challenging environments whilst still
protecting precious natural resources.
In an effort to reduce disease and child mortality, UNICEF
supports the Cambodian Government in mobilizing
communities to build their own latrines and attain Open
Defecation Free status that reduces the risk of diarrhoeal
diseases associated with faecal-contaminated water. Studies
prove that encouraging use of latrines and reducing or
eliminating open defecation is more effective in curbing the
rate of child diarrhoea than simply improving the water supply.
COMMUNITY-LED TOTAL SANITATION
Community-led total sanitation is an approach led
by the community to achieve better sanitation.
Communities are supported by trained facilitators
to analyse the sanitation situation of their villages
and to engender commitment and create action
plans to become Open Defecation Free and to do
this through their own efforts.
This approach fosters innovation and commitment
within the community and motivates people to build
their own sanitation infrastructure, without depending
on external nancial or material assistance.
WHAT WE DO
Support hygiene awareness and education in schools,
health centres and households through construction
and/or promotion of latrines and hand washing facilities
and appropriate treatment and storage of drinking water,
and advocate for the government to ensure these
become standard facilities in all schools, health centres
and households.
Support the development of community facilitators at the
local level who are equipped with skills and the necessary
promotional materials on sanitation and hygiene to motivate
behaviour change and engender commitment within
communities.
Continue to focus on safe and affordable sanitation in
households by supporting community-based approaches
such as the community-led total sanitation approach to
mobilize communities to attain Open Defecation Free status
to prevent contamination of water sources.
Support Commune Councils to sustain Open Defecation
Free status through commune and village monitoring
systems, to develop communication strategies to provide
information and education on good sanitation and hygiene
in the community, and to raise awareness on sanitation and
hygiene issues through events, including World Water Day,
National Sanitation Day and Global Hand washing Day.
Explore appropriate and affordable options for poor families
to get affordable and sustainable sanitation technologies.
Globally, partnerships for sustainable sanitation technologies
are growing and UNICEF aims to facilitate this knowledge
transfer in the context of Cambodia.
IMPACT
Cleaner environments translate into optimal living and
learning conditions for children. According to the 2009/2010
Education Management Information System, approximately
79.3 per cent of primary schools had latrines that improved
childrens ability to focus on learning. In addition, since
2006, approximately 20 per cent of 4,140 villages have
implemented the community-led total sanitation approach
without outside nancial or material support. Of these, 50
per cent have declared Open Defecation Free status,
meaning every family has built and used their own latrines.
An evaluation conducted in 2009 conrmed that community-
led total sanitation is effective in raising awareness and
motivating communities to stop open defecation. Efforts
will continue to sustain the results through promotion of
sanitation marketing, ensuring availability of affordable
sanitation options and strengthening hygiene promotion,
particularly hand washing with soap at critical times.
IMPROVING WATER SUPPLIES
In Cambodia, access to safe and sustainable drinking water
and adequate sanitation and hygiene facilities remains a chal-
lenge, particularly for families in rural areas. Polluted ponds and
rivers remain the main source of water for cleaning, bathing
and drinking, and access to latrines and hand washing facilities
in the home and at school are limited.
Although an increasing number of rural households are
securing adequate water supplies, ensuring water quality
is a challenge. Water contaminated by faeces or polluted as
a result of mining and other industrial activities can lead to
illness and death among children. Through the promotion
of locally produced ceramic lters and sand lters that can
treat water contaminated with bacteria, solutions have been
found to obtain clean water in the home. Combined with the
promotion of good household storage of water and regular
hand washing with soap, this has been shown to be effective
in reducing cases of diarrhoea.
Meanwhile, naturally occurring water contaminants, such
as arsenic, continue to poison Cambodias water supply,
especially in the lowland areas around the Mekong River and
its major tributaries. Because it has no taste or smell,arsenic
is an especially dangerous and invisible poison that can cause
a series of irreversible health complications, including cancer
of the skin, lungs, bladder and kidneys, as well as skin lesions
and changes in pigmentation.
An estimated 1,600 villages in six provinces and in parts of
Phnom Penh have been identied as being at risk of arsenic
contamination in their water supplies. Approximately 2.25
million people live in these areas.
UNICEF works with the government and development
partners to seek effective means for regular and routine
testing of water sources, followed by marking or closing
wells that are deemed unsafe and promotion of alternative
water sources, such as rainwater harvesting or pipe systems.
UNICEF has piloted rainwater technologies using locally
available materials, which allow water to be collected in a
series of local jugs. This decreases the work load on women
and children, while increasing the quantity of potentially safe
water available for drinking.
WHAT WE DO
Support government efforts in implementing a national
strategy for rural water supply, sanitation and hygiene,
featuring programmes that promote community-based
management of improved sources of drinking water, such
as establishing simple water safety plans, promoting
household water treatment and safe storage, and private
sector involvement in provision of services. Support is also
extended to primary schools and health centres to ensure
adequate water supply for drinking and hand washing.
Support the governments National Strategic Action Plan
for Arsenic Mitigation, which tests wells for contamination
and educates communities about the dangers of arsenic.
In addition, affected communities receive assistance in
establishing alternative water sources, such as small-scale
piped water systems, rainwater tanks, ceramic water lters
and shallow wells.
Advocate for commune councils to strengthen community
engagement in water supply improvement through Water
and Sanitation Users Groups focused on promoting use
and maintenance of water facilities and protection of water
sources and the surrounding environment.
Promote the use of user-friendly, affordable and simple
water quality test-kits that make it possible for communi-
ties to evaluate their own water sources and carry out
evidence-based negotiations with the authorities. This is
also an opportunity for empowering communities to not
only inform authorities of shortcomings, but also to notify
other community members when water quality is poor
and other steps that need to be taken for basic household
water treatment.
IMPACT
An increasing number of communities are successfully
reducing disease through increased access to well-
maintained toilets, hand washing facilities, and safe
and sustainable drinking water. Since 1983, some
21,000 new wells have been built in Cambodia, providing
approximately 420,000 families with safe drinking water.
A national strategic plan for arsenic mitigation has led to
early detection, with testing of 37,280 wells in high-risk
provinces completed by the end of 2009.
Moreover, children are benefting from improved learning
environments as approximately 66.1 per cent of primary
schools in the 2009/2010 school year secured access to
clean water. Access to improved sanitation facilities at
school has also improved attendance, especially for girls.
UNICEF CAMBODIA
P.O. Box 176, Phnom Penh
Tel: +855 (0)23 426 214
e-mail: phnompenh@unicef.org
www.unicef.org/cambodia
All photos by: UNICEF Cambodia/Nicolas Axelrod | Designed by Quinin Lab: www.quininlab.com