Subregional workshop on improving small-scale water supply and sanitation for better health. Meeting report (2017)

10-12 October 2017, Belgrade, Serbia

This workshop was organized by the European Centre for Environment and Health of the WHO Regional Office for Europe. It was targeted at national decision-makers in the health, water, sanitation and rural development sectors from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The workshop sought to facilitate a subregional exchange of experiences relating to safe, sustainable small water-supply and sanitation services in rural areas, and to promote good practices to improve the safety and sustainability of such services. Participants reviewed regulatory requirements and institutional responsibilities for the management and public health surveillance of small water and sanitation systems, discussed relevant challenges, identified methods for improvement, presented policy tools and internationally recognized good practices, shared national experiences with these tools and practices, described the benefits and principles of implementation of the WHO-recommended water and sanitation safety planning approaches for small systems, and discussed future actions to improve the management of small systems, including possible targets under the Protocol on Water and Health.