Core Questions on Drinking-water and Sanitation for Household Surveys

Due to wide variations among countries in survey tools and methods, comparison between different surveys is difficult. To help overcome this problem, the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) has developed a set of harmonized survey questions:   

Core questions on drinking-water and sanitation household surveys  to help resolve these comparability problems.  Including this question set in national surveys and censuses will help countries gain more systematic information on the drinking-water and sanitation practices and needs of the population. 

The core question set presented in this document is already in use by the Demographic and Health Surveys, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, and the World Health Survey.  JMP wishes to encourage widespread use of these harmonized questions in countries both to facilitate evidence-based decision-making at national level and to help enhance the accuracy of its own information.