2026–2035 WHO water,sanitation, hygieneand waste strategy WHO water, sanitation, hygiene and waste strategy 2026-2035 © World Health Organization2025 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike3.0IGO licence (CCBY-NC-SA3.0IGO;https://creativecommons.org/Licences/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo). Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes,providedthe work is appropriately cited, as indicated below. In any use of this work, there should be nosuggestion that WHO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the WHO logo is notpermitted. If you adapt the work, then you mustLicenceyour work under the same or equivalent CreativeCommons licence. If you create a translation of this work, you should add the following disclaimer along with thesuggested citation:“This translation was not created by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO is not Any mediation relating to disputes arising under the licence shall be conducted in accordance with the mediationrules of the World Intellectual Property Organization (http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/mediation/rules/). Suggested citation.WHO water, sanitation, hygiene and waste strategy 2026-2035.Geneva: World HealthOrganization;2025.https://doi.org/10.2471/B09661. Licence:CCBY-NC-SA3.0IGO. Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) data.CIP data are available athttps://iris.who.int/. Sales, rights and licensing.To purchase WHO publications, seehttps://www.who.int/publications/book-orders.To submit requests for commercial use and queries on rights and licensing, seehttps://www.who.int/copyright. Third-party materials.If you wish to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such astables, figures or images, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that reuse andto obtain permission from the copyright holder. Therisk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party- General disclaimers.The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do notimply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WHO concerning the legal status of any country,territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsedor recommended by WHOin preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and All reasonable precautions have been taken by WHOto verify the information contained in this publication.However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied.The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material lies with the reader.In no event shall WHObe Contents Acknowledgements...............................................................................................v Acronyms and abbreviations.................................................................................vi 1.1.1 Development of the strategy...................................................................................................31.1.2 Thewater, sanitation and hygienesector, the role of the World Health Organization, andcollaboration with partners..............................................................................................................41.1.3 Special relationship withthe United Nations Children’s Fund..................................................5 1.2 Operating context: why transformation and consolidation are necessary.................6 1.2.1 The World Health Organization’s organization-wide approach on climate and health: what it means for water, sanitation, hygiene, waste and health...................................................................71.2.2 From Sustainable Development Goal 6 to the post-2030 agenda: water, sanitation and hygieneas a health and climate systems lever..............................................................................................81.2.3 Strengthening intersectoral and cross-programme collaboration...........................................10 2 The World Health Organization water, sanitation, hygiene and waste strategy....12 2.1 Strategic plan: 2026–2035......................................................................................122.1.1 Strategic results areas and approaches.................................................................................13 2.1.2 How this strategy is different..................................................................................................142.1.3 Water, sanitation and hygiene within the World Health Organization Global Programme ofWork 2025–2028............................................................................................................................15 2.2 Delivering through this strat