Coverage of safely managed water, sanitation and hygiene: An application of small area estimation

Disaggregated information on welfare indicators is useful for targeted policies. This study constructs geographic maps of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) for provinces and districts in Vietnam (which has 63 provinces and 712 districts). The study finds that poorer provinces and districts tend to have remarkably lower access to safely managed sanitation and water. Provinces in the Northern Midlands and Mountain Areas, and Central Highlands have the lowest level of access to safely managed sanitation and drinking water. There is a great variation in the availability of WASH facilities between districts within the same provinces. Additionally, the study highlights that districts with a higher population of ethnic minorities tend to experience lower rates of access to safely managed sanitation and drinking water. Even within the same district, moreover, ethnic minorities face greater challenges in accessing safely managed sanitation and drinking water compared to the majority Kinh population.