1.6m children under five die every year for want of clean water
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Every year, 1.6 million children under the age of five die lacking access to clean water while 110,000 children of the same age bracket fade out in Bangladesh from water borne diseases, reports BSS.
According to official health statistics, 65 million under-five children are affected by water-borne diseases because of lack of sanitation.
The UN sources said, under the global scenario urbanisation and population growth were threatening one of the UN's most ambitious millennium development goals. The UN had hoped to halve the number of people without access to clean drinking water and sanitation by 2015.
But, progress had slowed due to population increases and unexpectedly high migration to urban areas, said the World Health Organisation and Unicef. They estimated some 1.1 billion people worldwide lacked clean drinking water. 'Water that is close by, clean and safe is basic to life'.
Some 2.6 billion people have no sanitation and, every year, 1.6 million children under the age of five die because of such a lack of access. And this lack is hampering the achievement of other millennium development goals. In education, for example, young girls who have to walk miles to fetch the family's water do not have time to go to school.
According to official health statistics, 65 million under-five children are affected by water-borne diseases because of lack of sanitation.
The UN sources said, under the global scenario urbanisation and population growth were threatening one of the UN's most ambitious millennium development goals. The UN had hoped to halve the number of people without access to clean drinking water and sanitation by 2015.
But, progress had slowed due to population increases and unexpectedly high migration to urban areas, said the World Health Organisation and Unicef. They estimated some 1.1 billion people worldwide lacked clean drinking water. 'Water that is close by, clean and safe is basic to life'.
Some 2.6 billion people have no sanitation and, every year, 1.6 million children under the age of five die because of such a lack of access. And this lack is hampering the achievement of other millennium development goals. In education, for example, young girls who have to walk miles to fetch the family's water do not have time to go to school.