Rolf Luyendijk and Portia Persley on Tackling the Global Sanitation Crisis

Working on the wastewater treatment system in Makassar City, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.  Photo credit: Yusuf Ahmad/USAID IUWASH SSEI, USAID/Indonesia

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Sanitation is one of the world’s most pressing public health challenges. Three out of every five people on the planet, or about 4.5 billion people, face every day without access to safely managed sanitation, while more than 890 million still practice open defecation. With such a daunting level of unmet need for improved sanitation facilities and services, what does the path forward look like?

To wrestle with this difficult question, this special World Toilet Day edition of Global Waters Radio features two thought leaders in the water and sanitation sectors: Rolf Luyendijk, Executive Director of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), and Portia Persley, Deputy Director of the Water Office at the U.S. Agency for International Development. In this podcast, Rolf and Portia discuss the scope of the world’s current sanitation crisis, highlight promising innovations for scaling-up sanitation solutions globally, and talk about the financial commitments needed to lay the foundation for a healthier future for all.

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Global Waters Radio was a podcast series produced by the Water Team at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from 2016 - 2020. The series offered listeners insights from USAID officials, development partners, thought leaders and experts from across the water sector as they discussed USAID water programming and cutting-edge research from around the world.

Podcast
Publication Date
Author credits
Rolf Luyendijk
Portia Persley
Russell Sticklor
Length
12 minutes 4 seconds
Population Focus
Urban
Related Countries