Five Steps to Universal Coverage

The unique WaterPlus plan of action is based to a large extent on the successful global health initiatives which have been able to (or will soon) eradicate individual diseases (smallpox, polio, Guinea worm). WaterPlus will reapply those methodologies that have proven effective in the past to the challenge of water and sanitation. The process is:

  1. Build Political Commitment: Generate high-level political commitments and accountability necessary to make 100 percent coverage in water and sanitation the most urgent priority for the developing world country by country.
  2. Count the Cases: Assemble the information necessary to establish country-specific baseline metrics for water and health. Who has water and sanitation in the target country(ies) and who does not? What are the consequences of inadequate supplies of safe water?
  3. Channel Assistance: Direct financial, human and in-kind resources in a cost-effective, coherent and sustainable manner to the right problems working through the most capable and efficient partners. Tackle the problem in one discrete geographical area after another.
  4. Measure: Assiduously measure the outcomes until the target country has achieved universal coverage of water and sanitation.
  5. Repeat: Generate the political commitment in the next target country, and proceed as above.