The success stories in the Financial Handbook "Water & Sanitation: How to Make Public Investment Work?" highlight how effective financial strategies have been in increasing people’s access to water and sanitation, but also in generating substantial benefits for public health, the economy and the environment.
Adequate water and sanitation services are a key driver for economic growth, especially in certain economic sectors such as healthcare, fisheries, tourism and property markets. The total economic losses associated with inadequate services are estimated at US$260 billion annually. Also, approximately 10% of the global burden of disease worldwide could be prevented with improvements to water, sanitation and hygiene and better water resource management worldwide.

The handbook

The Finance Handbook is part of an initiative by the Sanitation and Water for All global partnership to provide succinct insights, practical advice and curated knowledge to ministers and high-level decisions-makers.
The Hon. Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia and SWA’s High-level Chair, stated "Despite its clear benefits for the economy, health and the environment, the water and sanitation sector continues to struggle to get the political attention it needs and deserves. To make the most of existing resources and to generate the unprecedented levels of additional finance we require to achieve the global goals we have set, the sector needs to ensure water and sanitation is seen as an opportunity for investment, and not just a drain on national budgets. But clearly, we require new thinking and new approaches – many of which are highlighted in this Handbook."
Catarina de Albuquerque, SWA’s CEO said, "At a time where evidence shows us clearly that access to water, sanitation and hygiene is indispensable for building ‘forward’ better, for rebuilding economies, going back to school, preventing exposure to COVID-19 and reducing the stress on often fragile and under-resourced health systems, this Handbook provides national governments and their international partners with an indispensable tool to translate good intentions into reality."
The Handbook can be downloaded here.