From October 26 – 30, 2020, the Water Institute at UNC and 3,500 colleagues from around the country and world gathered virtually for the 12th Water and Health Conference – the first to be held entirely online. All plenaries, side events, special sessions, and verbal presentations were recorded and can be found on our YouTube page.
What is the Water and Health Conference?
Since its founding in 2009, the goal of the Water Institute at UNC has been to inform the way the world works on water, sanitation and hygiene issues by generating the evidence that drives improvements in both practice and policy. Through this period, the Water Institute has remained steadfast in its commitment to improving public health by achieving universal access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) services that are safe, affordable and sustainable – particularly for the most marginalized. The annual UNC Water and Health Conference is intended to advance these goals by creating a space where policymakers, practitioners and researchers can gather to review the evidence, interrogate the science and improve old and develop new approaches to expanding WaSH access.
What was different this year?
The 2020 Conference continued to explore the latest learnings around WaSH. Two themes received special attention – COVID-19 and systemic inequalities. Due to COVID-19, this year’s Conference was entirely online and registration was free! Our hope was that the conference would be accessible to more people across the globe. We kept many of the core elements you’ve come to expect such as plenaries, side events, verbal presentations and poster presentations. As in the past, the plenaries were an opportunity to explore critical themes emerging in 2020. Side events were collaborative learning experiences focused on new and emerging practices. Verbal presentations and poster presentations focused on emerging research. Learn more about the different types of sessions here. (link to session descriptions)
See the Conference buzz using #UNCWaterandHealth on Twitter, or through a few of the highlights below:
