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WHO Director-General's remarks at the 2024 Latin America and the Caribbean Finance Ministers’ Meetings – 19 April 2024 [1]

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Date: 2024-04

Your Excellency former President Laura Chinchilla,

Catarina de Albuquerque,

Ilan Goldfajn,

Catherine Russell,

Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.

I would especially like to thank the Brazilian presidency of the G20 for making water, sanitation and hygiene a priority.

One of WHO’s key priorities globally is supporting countries to build strong health systems, so people can receive the essential health services they need, when and where they need them.

But an equally important priority is supporting countries to keep people healthy and prevent them from needing to use the health system in the first place. That is, promoting health.

That means addressing the reasons people get sick and die – in the food they eat, the air they breathe, and the conditions in which they live and work.

And crucially, it means making sure people have access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene.

Because by the time a young child has had to go to hospital for emergency treatment for diarrhoea, some of the most of crucial parts of the public health system have already failed.

Water, sanitation and hygiene are among the most effective and cost-effective ways to prevent infection, save lives, and in the long run, to save money.

Investing in WASH now saves costs down the line in terms of health care, social protection and productivity - by a factor of about one to four.

This is a crucial first line of defence for multiple health threats now, including diarrhoea, cholera and dengue, and for the future – including another pandemic.

And yet around the world, progress on WASH is off-track.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, around 164 million people – about one in four – lack safe drinking water at home.

336 million people – about half of the region’s population – do not have safely managed sanitation. 7.5 million people still defecate in the open.

Globally, 1.4 million people die each year from diseases linked to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. This includes 50,000 deaths in Latin America. All of these deaths are preventable, as well all know.

Most of this disease burden falls on people in low-income communities.

And the need for strengthening WASH will only increase as the threats from climate change increase.



But we can turn this around, in three key ways:

First, we need long-term, sustainable financing, focused on populations in need. WHO is tracking WASH financing, so we can support countries to make better targeted investments.

Globally, 37 countries are tracking financial flows in WASH, and I’m very pleased to note that 17 of those countries – almost half – are in Latin America and the Caribbean. You are providing a model for the rest of the world to follow.

Second, we need to maintain WASH infrastructure, to protect both the populations they serve and the investments we make.

And third, we need accountability and better data, to track financial flows to ensure our investments deliver the best return on investment.

Excellencies, thank you all for your commitment to this most essential and most transformational of health interventions, which addresses the root causes of ill health.

Investing in WASH is an investment in a healthier, more resilient, and more productive future for all.

I thank you. Obrigado. Muchas gracias.

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[1] Url: https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-2024-latin-america-and-the-caribbean-finance-ministers-meetings-19-april-2024

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