27. 环境卫生领域的努力没有取得成功，因为会员国未能实现将无法持续获得基本卫生设施的人口比例减半的千年发展目标。虽然在 1990 年至 2015 年期间，可获得基本卫生设施的人口从 54%提高到 77%，有 21 亿人获得了此类设施，但到千年发展目标期间结束的 2015 年，仍有 24 亿人无法获得经改善的卫生设施，近10 亿人仍随地便溺。12 在持续获得安全饮用水和卫生设施方面仍然存在重大差距，这也是为什么可持续发展目标的具体目标 6.1 和 6.2 侧重于普遍获得安全饮用水和卫生设施的问题。
27. Efforts in the area of sanitation were not as successful, inasmuch as Member States were not able to achieve the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the population without sustainable access to basic sanitation. While access was extended from 54 to 77 per cent between 1990 and 2015, with 2.1 billion gaining access, by the end of the Millennium Development Goals period in 2015, 2.4 billion people still lacked access to improved sanitation facilities and nearly 1 billion still practised open defecation.12 A significant gap remains in terms of sustainable access to both safe drinking water and sanitation, which is why Sustainable Development Goal targets 6.1 and 6.2 focus on universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation.