Background paper on measuring WASH and food hygiene practices – Definition of goals to be tackled post 2015 by the Joint Monitoring Programme

Updated - Tuesday 10 July 2012

Year of publication: 2012

In 2013 the United Nations General Assembly will be asked to decide what development goals the international community should seek beyond 2015. The decision will be made based on a proposal that will be submitted to the General Assembly. This proposal will include goals, targets and indicators pertaining to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). The indicators proposed will reflect principles associated with the human right to drinking water and sanitation.

The United States Government, through the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is taking the lead in organizing the hygiene working group with the help of USAID’s WASHplus project. This background paper has been commissioned from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) to inform stakeholder discussion about the future goals, targets and indicators that should be pursued by the international community post 2015 in the area of hygiene. IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre and International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh have also been asked to contribute to the paper.

The purpose of the background paper is to stimulate and inform discussion, but not to make any claims for consensus nor suggest that any of the definitions, indicators, goals or targets proposed are final. The final version of this report will be published on the JMP web site soon.

Stakeholders can give feedback on the discussion around the hygiene targets through this JMP web page.