Introduction
Millennium Development Goal 7, Target 7c, calls on countries to: "Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation".
Access to safe drinking-water and to basic sanitation is measured by the following indicators:
- Proportion of population using an improved drinking-water source;
- Proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility.
JMP is required to use these indicators as the basis of its estimates.
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As definitions of «access» can vary widely within and among countries and regions, and as JMP is mandated to report at global level and across time, it has created a set of categories for «improved» and «unimproved» facilities that are used to analyse the national data on which its trends and estimates are based [learn more about the drinking-water and sanitation categories].
In line with the MDG indicator definition, which stipulates "use of improved facilities" to measure "access to improved facilities", the JMP measures and reports on the actual use of facilities. It is worth noting that the household surveys and censuses on which the JMP relies also measure "use" and not "access" - since access involves many additional criteria other than use.
Refining the definitions: an ongoing process and the ladder concept
The JMP is always looking for ways to improve monitoring of access to drinking-water and sanitation. In its 2008 report, the JMP developed a new way of presenting the access figures, by disaggregating and refining the data on drinking-water and sanitation and reflecting them in "ladder" format. This allows the JMP to report on a more nuanced picture of access that goes beyond the improved/unimproved dichotomy.
Learn more about the drinking-water and sanitation ladders.
Improved sanitation facilities
For MDG monitoring, an improved sanitation facility is defined as one that hygienically separates human excreta from human contact.
Improved drinking-water source
An improved drinking-water source is defined as one that, by nature of its construction or through active intervention, is protected from outside contamination, in particular from contamination with faecal matter.
To allow for international comparability of estimates, JMP uses a classification to differentiate between "improved" and "unimproved" drinking-water sources as well as sanitation.