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阳光海滩—COVID-19危机突显出获得清洁水、环境卫生和个人卫生的重要性。众所周知，洗手是最好的抗病毒前线之一。但三十亿人——全世界人口的近一半——缺乏基本洗手设施，大约三分之一人口（22亿人）得不到安全饮用水，更有近两倍于此的人（42亿人）得不到安全的环境卫生服务。
太平洋岛屿的问题更加突出，在这些地区，得不到有保障的自来水的人口比例比全球平均水平高一倍，环境卫生指标也要低于撒哈拉以南非洲。我们在巴布亚新进内亚等国家看到，缺乏维持基本个人卫生的设施导致疫情一旦形成便非常难以克服。
但是，尽管我们都知道问题所在，水和环境卫生仍无法进入全球政治议程。政客很少像为新学校和医院剪彩那样热衷于建设废水处理厂。但与其说问题在于无法抓住政治机会，不如说是没有政治意愿。毕竟，难以想象还有其他政府服务与普及清洁水和环境卫生一样重要。
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