The meeting is taking place Washington DC ahead of the World Bank’s spring meetings where representatives from over 40 developing countries interacted with UNICEF executive director, Anthony Lake, UK’s International Development secretary of state, Andrew Mitchell, and major partners in the water and sanitation sector.

The April 20 Sanitation and Water for All gathering brought together a horde of donors and agencies with 69 ministers responsible for finance, sanitation and hygiene portfolios.

The second meeting of its kind comes against the backdrop of an announcement in March from UNICEF and the World Health Organization that the world had met the Millennium Development Goal target for improved drinking water sources, but that many still lacked safe water.

“Today, 1.1 billion people still practice open defecation because they lack the most basic sanitation facilities,” Lake said. “If two generations ago, we landed men on the moon, we can and we must afford people here on earth their most basic needs.”

Ex-Ghanaian president and partnership chairperson, John Kufuor, emphasized the need for governments to act urgently.

“It is time to focus our energies on neglected areas and neglected people. The dream of universal access to sanitation and water is within our reach, but a tremendous increase in political will, adequate resources and coordinated efforts is required to get us there,” Kufuor said.

According to UNICEF, at least 2.5 billion cases of diarrhoea occur in children under five years of age every year and an estimated 3,000 children die from it daily.

The World Bank says huge savings in health care costs and gains in productive days can be realized by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene and could amount to over 7% of gross domestic product, depending on the country.

The economic gains to be made from investing in sanitation and water are estimated at US $170 billion per year.

If everyone had access to adequate sanitation and water services, the world`s health sectors would save around $15 billion every year.

Organizers are hoping to build on the success of the first meeting in 2010, also convened by UNICEF at the World Bank, which led to increased focus and commitments from countries and donors.

This year’s meeting has expanded, with 40 countries taking part, up from 18 in 2010.

Of those present in 2010, nine countries have confirmed that they would meet their commitments of increased budget allocations and seven of the 13 donors present in 2010 have met or exceeded the targets they set for funding.

Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Indonesia, Kenya, Lao PDR, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Timor Leste, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe are some of the developing countries that have confirmed ministerial representation at the Sanitation and Water for All meeting.