Almost one billion people worldwide relied on healthcare facilities without water in 2025, leaving patients and health workers without a fundamental requirement for safe care. New research by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicates that 907 million people used such facilities.
Additionally, 936 million people were treated in facilities without sanitation, and 652 million in places lacking basic hygiene services. While there has been an overall increase in healthcare facilities with water and hygiene services since 2015, improvements have been uneven, with many countries still struggling to provide basic conditions.
These shortages are particularly significant during disease outbreaks like Ebola, where preventing infection in hospitals and clinics is crucial. Helen Hamilton, head of health and hygiene at WaterAid, stated that "No one should have to give birth, receive treatment for an infection or undergo surgery in a healthcare facility without access to clean water."
WaterAid's research links conditions in health facilities without clean water, functioning toilets, or basic hygiene to 36 sepsis deaths daily across sub-Saharan Africa. Women who develop sepsis are 144 times more likely to die than those in Britain, Europe, or North America.