The Center for Global Safe WASH at Emory University

Water for equality means TIME — the hours women and girls regain when safe water and sanitation are close to home.
When safe water systems serve everyone, entire families and communities also benefit — especially women and girls.
Data from 53 countries show that women and girls spend 250 million hours every day collecting water – over three times more than men and boys — time that could be used to study, work, rest, and enjoy. Access to safe water restores freedom and potential.
Women and girls bear the brunt of the global water crisis. It’s time to centre them in water solutions.
What does water for equality mean to you? Join the conversation.

World Water Day | United Nations World Water Day celebrates water and inspires action to tackle the global water crisis. On World Water Day 2026, we will explore the critical relationship between water, women, and gender equality.

Where water flows, equality grows.....

The global water crisis affects everyone – but not equally.

Where people lack safe drinking water and sanitation close to home, inequalities flourish, with women and girls bearing the brunt.

They collect water.

They manage water.

They care for people made sick by unsafe water.

They lose time, health, safety, and opportunities.

And too often, the systems that govern water leave women and girls out of decision-making, leadership, funding and representation.

This makes the water crisis a women’s crisis.

We need a transformative, rights-based approach to solving these challenges, where women’s voices are heard and their agency recognized.

All women must be equitably represented at all levels of water leadership – helping design every pipe and policy.

And women must drive change in water as engineers, farmers, scientists, sanitation workers and community leaders.

As we face growing risks, from a changing climate and water-related disasters to financing shortfalls, from social norms to governance gaps, we need everybody to play their full part: managing water as a common good and building resilience for the future.

This includes engaging men and boys as allies in promoting safe water, sanitation and hygiene for all, and in challenging the norms and behaviours that hold women and girls back.

Only then can safe water services meet everyone’s needs – empowering women and girls to lead healthier, more fulfilled lives – and making water a force for sustainable development and gender equality that benefits us all.

On World Water Day 2026, let's explore the critical relationship between water, women, and gender equality.

World Water Day | United Nations World Water Day celebrates water and inspires action to tackle the global water crisis. On World Water Day 2026, we will explore the critical relationship between water, women, and gender equality.

https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/land-lines-magazine/articles/land-water-impacts-data-centers/

Data Drain: The Land and Water Impacts of the AI Boom - Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Communities across the US are wooing data centers with tax breaks and other incentives. But data centers are resource-ravenous, creating demands for land, water, and power that many host communities are not prepared to meet.

Congratulations Dr. Juan Leon, newly named Co-Director of the Center for Global Safe WASH!

Dr. Juan Leon was recently named the new Co-Director for the Center for Global Safe WASH! Dr. Leon’s area of research focuses on the immune response of individuals and populations to parasitic and enteric viral pathogens, especially those involved in foodborne and waterborne disease.

His focus areas include: produce safety, Norovirus, enteric vaccines and training the next generation of public health professionals.

For more information about Dr. Leon and his research go to: https://leonlab.sph.emory.edu/

CGSW Faculty, Matt Freeman, Bethany Caruso and Marlene Wolfe, lead new BMJ supplement on WHO Hand Hygiene Guidelines

Matthew Freeman, Bethany Caruso and Marlene Wolfe participated in the launch of their BMJ – Global Health Supplement in London. The five papers from this supplement, all led by Emory (plus a commentary led by the WHO), reviewed the literature on hand hygiene in community settings and will directly support the first ever WHO/UNICEF Global Guideline on Hand Hygiene in Community Settings. The event previewed the launch of the guidelines and include discussants from WHO, UNICEF, the BMJ, and the UK Government, among others.

📣 A new supplement published in BMJ Global Health has informed forthcoming WHO and UNICEF global guidelines on hand hygiene in community settings.

The supplement features five systematic reviews, which focus on the barriers to effective hashtag ; minimum material requirements; behavioural factors; strategies to improve handwashing; and the effectiveness of government measures.

🧼A lack of soap is the most often reported barrier to effective hand hygiene, key to curbing the spread of infection in shared community spaces, such as households, schools, and public places.

🧪Data suggests that handwashing with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand sanitisers are effective for removing bacteria; yet evidence is sparse for soap alternatives (like ash and sand).

🔎 Researchers also found that most of the reported efforts to improve handwashing didn’t always address identified barriers or fully consider the fundamental resources needed for hand hygiene, such as soap, water, and handwashing facilities.

This supplement makes a powerful case for moving beyond short-term projects and toward sustained, government-led efforts that integrate hygiene into national strategies.

🌎 Experts say that hand hygiene not only protects health and strengthens community resilience, but it also reduces pressure on health systems by saving resources needed for other health priorities.

The new WHO and UNICEF guidelines on hand hygiene in community settings will be released on hashtag , 15 October 2025.

💡 Read the Supplement here: https://lnkd.in/ed8Z_iQb

Ceres Nanosciences Establishes Five New Wastewater-Based Epidemiology Centers of Excellence Under NIH RADx Initiative
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MANASSAS, Virginia – October 25, 2023 – Ceres Nanosciences (Ceres), a privately held company that makes innovative products to improve life science research and diagnostic testing, is announcing the establishment of five new wastewater-based epidemiology centers of excellence at the Houston Health Department, Morgan State University, the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory, the State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa, and the University of Missouri. The new centers add to the sixteen existing centers of excellence previously announced in April 2022, all of which have been established with support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx®) initiative.



These 21 sites encompass testing labs located all across the country, including in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Ceres Establishes 16 Wastewater COVID-19 Surveillance Centers of Excellence Wastewater testing methods powered by the Nanotrap® Particles enable wastewater-based epidemiology at multiple levels in a community, including at the building level for high-priority locations, at the sewershed level for neighborhoods, and at the wastewater treatment plant level for cities and tow...

...Sinharoy is among seven female core faculty researchers at the only academic WASH center headed by a woman. They are teaching and leading research that centers women and gender in solving persistent issues of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. Many are balancing their careers with raising their own children, deepening their connection to families around the world, including those who struggle to secure safe water and sanitation.

“Of course we have outstanding male researchers in our center who have made significant contributions to the field,” says Dr. Christine Moe, director of the Center for Global Safe Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene at Emory (CGSW). “What is unique about RSPH is that we have a large cadre of women scientists working on a range of WASH research, and this puts us in an especially strong position to address gender-related aspects of WASH.

“Women approach things differently,” continues Moe. “It’s critical to bring women’s perspective into WASH challenges, whether it’s access or whether it’s the outcomes that impact women. It just makes a huge difference.”

Women Carrying Water Strength and number of women faculty set apart the Rollins Center for Global Safe WASH.

October 15 is Global Handwashing Day, a global advocacy day dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives. ttp://globalhandwashing.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CoVid19-infographic-final.pdf

globalhandwashing.org

The Center for Global Safe WASH Open House event will be held September 8, from 4-5:30 pm via ZOOM. If you are an incoming student and interested in WASH, please try to attend. I will post the Zoom link closer to the event. You will have an opportunity to interact virtually with the CGSW Core Faculty and representatives from our Consortium partner agencies: CDC, Carter Center, Taskforce for Global Health, CARE and GA TECH.

Welcome back RSPH/ WASH students Class of 2021 and a gigantic welcome to the Class of 2022!

It's a mere 20 days until the new semester starts. We have spent our Summer planning our robust, online WASH Seminar Series for this Fall Semester, with topics ranging from COVID detection in wastewater, child and maternal WASH behaviors, climate and WASH, water sustainability and so much more!

For more information on the WASH Certificate Program for existing and newly matriculating RSPH students, please email [email protected]

Greetings. If you are a newly enrolled student at Rollins School of Public Health, and would like more information about the WASH Certificate program, please email [email protected]