Meeting the MDG Drinking Water and Sanitation Target: A Mid-Term Assessment of Progress

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Publication Title	Meeting the MDG Drinking Water and Sanitation Target: A Mid-Term Assessment of Progress
Publication Type	WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme Report
Author(s)	WHO/UNICEF
Publication Date	2004
ISBN-ISSN-EAN
Publication URL	http://www.wssinfo.org/pdf/JMP_04_text.pdf
Contact

1 Summary
2 Content
3 References
4 See also
5 External Resources
6 Attachments

Summary

n September 2000, 189 UN Member States adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), setting clear, time-bound targets for making real progress on the most pressing development issues we face. Achieving these targets will directly affect the lives and future prospects of billions of people around the globe. It will also set the world on a positive course at the start of the 21st century. Goal 7 is to ensure environmental sustainability. One of its targets is the subject of this report: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

Although the MDGs were formulated in 2000, the baseline for most of the MDG targets, including that on water and sanitation, has been set as 1990. Therefore 2002, the last year for which comprehensive data are available, can be considered the halfway mark towards achieving the 2015 MDG deadline.

This report, prepared by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), provides coverage data for 1990 and 2002 at national, regional and global levels and an analysis of trends towards 2015. It also marks a new cycle of more frequent reporting, which can be effectively used for sector capacity-building efforts at the national and subnational levels.

The report is intended as a ‘reality check’ for individual countries and the international community on how far we have come, and where we need to focus next, in order to fulfil our commitment.^[1]