PHA-Exchange> UNICEF REPORT SHOWS PROGRESS ON ACCESS TO WATER AND SANITATION, BUT PROBLEMS REMAIN

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 from Vern Weitzel <vern at coombs.anu.edu.au> -----

UNICEF REPORT SHOWS PROGRESS ON ACCESS TO WATER AND SANITATION, BUT PROBLEMS 
REMAIN
New York, Sep 28 2006  1:00PM
Although more than 1.2 billion people have gained access to safe drinking 
water since 1990, at least 
four of every 10 people still lack basic sanitation, contributing to the 
deaths from diarrhoea of 
about 1.5 million children under the age of five each year, according to a 
report released today by 
the United Nations Children’s Fund 
(<"http://www.unicef.org/media/media_36034.html">UNICEF).

<i><"http://www.unicef.org/progressforchildren/2006n5/index.html">Progress for 
Children: A Report 
Card on Water and Sanitation</i> contains mixed conclusions on the advances 
made towards one of the 
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), that which calls for halving the 
proportion of people without 
sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.

It found that global coverage of safe drinking water increased from 78 per 
cent to 83 per cent 
between 1990 and 2004, and that Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as 
South Asia, are on 
schedule to achieve the MDG well ahead of schedule.

Global access to basic sanitation has risen from 49 per cent in 1990 to 59 per 
cent today, with 
South Asia more than doubling its numbers during the period. In East Asia and 
the Pacific, the 
proportion jumped from 30 per cent to over 50 per cent.

Yet some 1.5 million children under the age of five die from diarrhoea each 
year because they still 
do not have safe drinking water or basic sanitation.

The report found that those deaths could be reduced by more than a third with 
improved sanitation, 
while better hygiene practices could cut the death rate by another third.

Despite commendable 
progress,” 425 million children lack access to a better water supply and 
more than 980 million do 
not have access to adequate sanitation.

“Clean water and sanitation are vital pre-requisites for improved nutrition, 
reductions in child and 
maternal mortality and the fight against disease.
Other benefit of clean water and sanitation is the improvement in school 
attendance rates and 
academic performance, as children are no longer deterred from classes by the 
need to fetch and carry 
water for their families.
  

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