Clean water and good hygiene vital to “killing the menace” of the African Mpox emergency and preventing global spread, says WaterAid

As a continent-wide public health emergency for Mpox is declared by the African Centre for Disease Control, and a global threat of international concern by World Health Organization (WHO) - WaterAid is warning that without clean water and good hygiene, we cannot contain the spread of the virus from spreading across borders and claiming more lives.

The outbreak has already spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighbouring countries such as Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi which have never had cases before as well as countries further afield like Nigeria and South Africa.

With reports that adequate vaccine provision is likely to be months away, WaterAid warns that it has never been more important that communities have access to water, sanitation and hygiene to avoid MPox claiming more lives.

The infectious – and often deadly - virus can spread through contact with physical materials – from bedsheets, sharps, to kitchen surfaces and eating utensils – these routes can be greatly minimised through proper washing and hand hygiene. It is also vital that water, hygiene and sanitation is available in health care centres where the disease will be treated.

The African Centre for Disease Control explains that MPox is spread through physical human contact. Chief of Staff Dr Ngashi Ngongo told WaterAid that improving community access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) was “an important component and main feature of their response plan both at a household level and in health care facilities”.

As the World Health Organisation also considered declaring a global emergency this week, Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “Stopping these outbreaks will require a tailored and comprehensive response, with communities at the centre.”

WaterAid Health Policy Analyst Irene Owusu-Poku said: “We will fail at killing the menace that is Mpox without clean water and good hygiene. While vaccines are important, they are not the only way out of this urgent and escalating health emergency”.

“WaterAid is calling on national and regional health authorities in affected countries to prioritise water, sanitation and hygiene in all emergency response efforts, so we can stop this infectious virus in its tracks.

“Longer term, to help halt the spread of deadly diseases that are a threat to us all, we also need global governments to increase funding globally for water, hygiene and sanitation – including in health care facilities.”

Mrs Owusu-Poku added that the disease can affect anyone. However, women and children are particularly vulnerable due to such regular physical contact, with any crowded environment including health care facilities, schools and hotels at high risk as it is hard for infected people to isolate.

The AfCDC have confirmed this week that the fatality rate is currently between 3-4% of infections, something which Ms Owusu-Poku has called “alarming”, as the highest Mpox fatality rate Africa has seen in many years. With multiple transmission routes, WaterAid is calling for water, sanitation and hygiene to be part of a broader response package to urgently the halt the spread of Mpox disease.

WaterAid is also urging the UK government to:

• allocate a minimum of 10% of the Official Development Assistance bilateral budget to water, sanitation and hygiene 
• make sure every healthcare facility, everywhere has clean water, sanitation and hygiene services (WASH) – our first line of defence against these infections

WaterAid is calling on the public to share their support on the Vote Water petition. To add your name and tell the next UK Government to prioritise water, sanitation and hygiene visit www.wateraid.org/uk/vote-water    
 

ENDS

For media queries please contact: Emma Sutton-Smith, [email protected], or call our press line on 020 7793 4537  .

Notes to editors

About WaterAid

WaterAid is an international not-for-profit determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. We work alongside communities in 22 countries to secure these three essentials that transform people’s lives. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 28 million people with clean water and nearly 29 million people with decent toilets.

For more information, visit our website wateraid.org; follow us on Twitter @WaterAidUK, @WaterAid or @WaterAidPress; or find us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram.

• 703 million people in the world – almost one in ten – don’t have clean water close to home.
• 2.2 billion people in the world – more than one in four – don’t have safe water.
• 1.5 billion people in the world – almost one in five – don’t have a decent toilet of their own.
• Almost 400,000 children under five die every year due to diseases caused by unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. That's more than 1000 children a day, or almost one child every one and a half minutes.²

1: WHO/UNICEF (2023), Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022: special focus on gender (accessed 11 Jul 2023)

2: WHO (2023), Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update (accessed 24 Jul 2023)

3: WaterAid (2021), Mission-critical: Invest in water, sanitation and hygiene for a healthy and green economic recovery (accessed 1 Nov 2023).