African govts urged to prioritise women's sanitation needs amid climate disasters

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As the effects of seasonal rains, coupled with climate change such as floods and droughts, intensify in different parts of the world, African governments, including Uganda, have been asked to prioritise the sanitation needs of women and girls whenever such extreme weather events take place.

The call is embedded in a report titled 'Water and Climate Rising Risks for Urban Populations' that was conducted by WaterAid in 2024 and released in March 2025.

The release of the report comes at a time when in Uganda's capital Kampala, midweek flooding as a result of seasonal rains claimed at least nine lives, according to the Uganda Police.

 Although the rains were predicted by the Uganda Meteorology Authority in the March-April-May seasonal forecast, extreme floods that are being experienced today were not anticipated.

According to the report, although water is vital to a city’s growth and stability and to the people who live there, too much or too little of it can put everything at risk.

The report adds that right now, 90% of natural disasters like floods being experienced in major cities are water-related, and cities especially in low-income countries are the most affected.

Cities highlighted in the report include those found in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the USA. Of these South and Southeast Asia are regional hotspots with a strong wetting trend.

“When water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and systems cannot cope with intensifying and unpredictable climatic extremes, it is often the most vulnerable and marginalized people who suffer the worst impacts on their health, education and livelihoods,” the report said.

With more than half of the world’s population around 4.4 billion people living in towns and cities, the share is projected to increase to more than two-thirds by 2050.

That figure rises to around 75% of the global population peri-urban settlements are also considered. But in most cities across the world, 19% of the global urban population doesn’t have access to safe water and 35% of the global urban population lacks a safely managed sanitation service.

What could be the consequences?

According to the report, the loss or disruption of water, sanitation and hygiene services increases the spread of diseases, demands more time to collect water or find somewhere to go to the toilet, especially for girls and women, and hinders people’s ability to gain an education or earn a living.

The report adds that when water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and systems cannot cope with intensifying and unpredictable climatic extremes, it is often the most vulnerable and marginalized people who suffer the worst impacts on their health, education and livelihoods.

“Therefore, without the rights to safe water and sanitation, women, children, older people and people with disabilities are the most vulnerable to the resulting diseases and indignities, whenever such disasters occur,” adds the report.

The report offers several recommendations for managing climate and water-related disasters:

Collaboration for Investment: Development partners, multilateral banks, and the private sector should collaborate to unlock investments in climate-resilient water, sanitation, and hygiene systems that primarily support the most vulnerable populations.

Accelerated Global Action on Water: Global leaders must intensify efforts to address water-related issues. Governments and development partners should leverage existing multilateral platforms, such as the UNFCCC, the G7 Water Coalition, and the G20 Call to Action on Strengthening Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Services, to implement ambitious actions.

Mainstreaming Water and Sanitation in Climate Plans: Governments in affected countries should incorporate water, sanitation, and hygiene measures into their national and city-level climate adaptation plans, with specific attention to vulnerable groups, particularly women and girls.