The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) submits this report, pursuant to Section 7019(e) of Division K of P.L. 117-328, the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023, which incorporates by reference the requirements of House Report H. Report 117-401, on the design and implementation of WASH programs:
The Committee directs the USAID Administrator, not later than 45 days after enactment of this Act, to update the report to the Committees on Appropriations on how women’s access to adequate sanitation facilities and feminine hygiene products are included in the design and implementation of the Agency’s WASH programs, especially for frontline health workers. The report should also include progress made in providing WASH services in healthcare facilities, including the number of health care facilities where USAID provided support for WASH activities as part of infection prevention.
Increasing Commitment to Sanitation and Hygiene for Women and Girls
More than one billion women lack safe drinking water and basic hygiene services with soap and water, while nearly two billion women don’t have access to safely managed sanitation. Approximately 500 million people worldwide - equivalent to nearly one-fourth of all females aged 12-50 years old - do not have the information, products, and basic services they need to manage their menses.1 In recognition of the multi-sectoral nature of menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) interventions, in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 USAID released the Agency’s first ever technical brief on MHH.2 This document provides USAID Missions and partners with recommendations on how to contribute to equitable MHH outcomes in alignment with existing sector-based mandates, such as adolescent health, education, women’s economic empowerment, and safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). These approaches were echoed in the 2022 U.S. Global Water Strategy, mandated by the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2014 and developed under joint leadership from USAID and the Department of State.
In FY 2021, the most recent year for which data are available due to annual reporting cycles, USAID helped 2.7 million women and girls gain access to safe drinking water, and 3 million women and girls gain access to improved sanitation. This includes increased investments in MHH, social and behavior change, and research in the water and sanitation sectors that benefit women and girls.