Only 40% of world’s health facilities meet basic sanitation standards: UN

The situation was particularly dire in poorer countries.(AFP) — Only four in 10 health care facilities worldwide meet basic sanitation standards for accessible and usable toilets, the United Nations said Tuesday, while 11% have no sanitation services at all.In a report, the U.N.’s health and children’s agencies said only 40% of health care facilities last year had toilets that adequately met the needs of patients and staff, including people with limited mobility.The report from the World Health Organization and UNICEF provided global estimates of basic sanitation services in health care settings for the first time.Its 2025 estimate found significant gaps in access to basic sanitation standards, which it said require usable facilities including at least one toilet dedicated to staff, at least one sex-separated toilet with menstrual hygiene facilities and at least one toilet accessible to people with limited mobility.Relying on data from 70 countries, the report showed that sanitation levels in health care facilities varied widely among regions, with only 23% of facilities in sub-Saharan Africa providing basic services, compared with 55% in Central and Southern Asia.It found that more than one in 10 health facilities globally had no sanitation service, affecting 936 million people.In addition to sanitation, the report estimated access to water, hygiene, environmental cleaning and waste management in health care facilities.It found that an estimated 85% of facilities last year had basic water services, 72% had basic hygiene services and 71% had basic health care waste management services.Only 59% of facilities met basic environmental cleaning standards, which require both cleaning protocols and trained cleaning staff and are central to infection prevention and control.Eighteen percent of facilities, serving about 1.5 billion people, met neither of the environmental cleaning requirements, according to the report, which relied on data from 54 countries for that category.The situation was particularly dire in poorer countries.The environmental cleaning standard was met by just 24% of facilities in the world’s least developed countries.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads