Second session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health

Bucharest, Romania, 23-25 November 2010

Five years after entering into force, the Protocol counts 24 Parties. At this meeting, delegates representing 33 countries, several UN, intergovernmental and non governmental organizations reviewed progress achieved and agreed on actions to tackle the challenges in the fields of water and health. Several publications providing guidance on different topic areas were endorsed.

Participants discussed the work carried out over the past three years, including: ratification and implementation of the Protocol; development of national strategies on water and health by setting targets and target dates; surveillance of and response to water-related disease, water supply and sanitation in extreme weather events; the specific challenges of small-scale water supply; equitable access to drinking water; and access to information and public participation under the Protocol.

Parties reviewed the results of their first reporting exercise on target setting and planned measures to achieve them. The workplan for 2011-2013 was adopted. Towards the attainment of the human right to water, participants endorsed proposals for strengthening work on the reduction of economic barriers to access to safe water, leading to a best practice guide on economic affordability of safe water for all by 2012. They also agreed on cross-cutting work on small scale water supply systems to increase the access to safe water, an issue especially in rural areas of the European Region.