A new WHO and UNICEF report reveals significant gaps in essential water, sanitation, hygiene and environmental health services in health-care facilities worldwide. Despite notable gains since 2015, only four in ten facilities meet basic sanitation standards and fewer than six in ten achieve basic environmental cleaning standards such patient rooms and wards, operating theatres, examination and treatment areas, toilets and sanitation facilities, leaving patients and health workers exposed to preventable health risks.

Progress on water, sanitation, hygiene, environmental cleaning and waste management in health-care facilities 2015–2025, published today by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, through the Joint Monitoring Programme on for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP), provides the clearest global picture yet of these essential services in health-care facilities.