2012 has brought welcome news of the progress made in bringing water and sanitation to the many people worldwide still without access to these essential services. The Joint Monitoring Programme between the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF reported that the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target for water was achieved in 2010, five years ahead of schedule, with two billion people gaining access to clean water over the last two decades. This achievement illustrates how well-planned and well-targeted investment can deliver effective results globally. But major challenges remain. Global progress on the 2015 sanitation target is off-track and over a third of the world’s population is still without access to basic sanitation – a testament to the low priority accorded to this issue by many of today’s political leaders.