Amidst COVID, UK Government proposes 80 percent aid cut for water and sanitation sector
The reported cuts will end all future spending on water, sanitation and hygiene by the UK in countries including Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi, which is ranked as the sixth poorest nation on earth.
Over 50 leading aid organisations and UK universities have condemned news of the UK’s planned 80% aid cuts to safe water, sanitation and hygiene provision for the world’s poor as unethical and self-harming.
Foreign Office documents leaked reveal the cuts and advice to Ministers on how to avoid a backlash.
In an open letter to the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab who is responsible for overseeing cuts to the UK aid budget, the group of experts set out how these draconian cuts are incompatible with the need to protect hundreds of millions of people against Coronavirus, the UK’s claimed leadership of the climate agenda, and the government’s stated global priorities of improving girls education, ending unavoidable deaths, protecting climate and nature, economic growth and avoiding conflict.
These proposed cuts are a dereliction of the UKs moral obligations to the world’s poorest communities and represent a strategic misstep, which ends an era of bold UK leadership on the global water crisis, said the experts. They demand a reversal of this decision which will deny a staggering 10 million people from access safe water, sanitation and hygiene each year, and condemn millions of women and girls in Africa – where 200 million hours a day are spent collecting water – to a life of drudgery and lost opportunity.
UNICEF’s data shows that 9.9 million Malawians cannot basic sanitation and 5.6 million do not have access to safe water and that over 3000 children under 5 die of water related disease each year as a result. Walter Chinangwa, Programme Manager with Water Witness Malawi said: It’s no secret that governments in poor countries like ours do not have the funds to provide water and sanitation services to all our people – and this is partly due to tax avoidance by British companies working here. Ending UK Aid for WASH in Malawi will not only exacerbate poverty and stop girls going to school, but exposes us to WASH related pandemics like COVID-19.
The UK should be proud of its track record of getting water and sanitation to people who need it most in Africa and Asia. This decision to cut our aid on WASH will have a catastrophic and lasting effect on people’s lives – particularly for girls and women – and frankly, it is shameful. It is a kick in the teeth for so many people living in desperate situations across the world.
Dorcas Pratt, Deputy Director of Water Witness:
The links between clean water, safe sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and achievement of the SDGs are well documented. The cost of inadequate WASH is high, causing up to 1.4 million premature deaths annually and global economic losses of USD 260 billion each year. 2.1 billion people have no safely managed water at home and 2.3 billion are without safely managed sanitation at home. Millions of women and girls stay out of work and school with no menstrual hygiene management options, resulting in gender inequality both in the workplace and in education. Investment in WASH leads not only to better health and wellbeing, but for every US $1 invested in water and sanitation, US $4.30 is
generated in economic returns through increased productivity.
