September 14, 2012
Under-five child mortality falls significantly
WaterAid / Juthika Howlader
New York, New York –A new report released by UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, shows that the annual number of under-five deaths worldwide has declined from nearly 12 million in 1990 to 6.9 million in 2011.
Levels & Trends in Child Mortality is based on estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation and highlights enormous global progress in ending preventable child deaths worldwide.
Yet, much more is required to bring these numbers to zero, chief among which is ensuring universal access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation, and hygiene promotion among the world’s poorest people and communities.
Without improved sanitation, hygiene and water resource management, we will not make sufficient headway in providing all children with the health and opportunities they deserve.
- David Winder, CEO, WaterAid, America
Dr. David Winder, CEO of WaterAid in America, speaking about the new UNICEF ‘Levels & Trends in Child Mortality’ Report stated:
"There is ample evidence to support the critical role of safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in helping to save seven million young children who are currently dying every year from entirely preventable causes."
Dr. Winder continued: "In fact, WASH is closely linked to three leading killers of children—pneumonia, diarrheal diseases and malaria—and to under-nutrition, to which more than one-third of under-five deaths is attributed. Without improved sanitation, hygiene and water resource management, we will not make sufficient headway in providing all children with the health and opportunities they deserve.”
This is one of many reasons that WaterAid is a proud partner of A Promise Renewed, a global partnership led by UNICEF and the Governments of the United States, Ethiopia and India, which aims to align the global community around a commitment to end preventable child deaths through a series of high-impact interventions, including WASH. Yet, this critically important effort will not succeed without significantly increased resources from all stakeholders and improved targeting of funds to ensure the poorest and most vulnerable are being reached.”
The report shows that 11% of childhood deaths (759,000 per year / 2,079 per day) are attributable to diarrheal diseases, of which 88% (according to the WHO) can be directly attributed to a lack of clean water, safe sanitation and hygiene promotion. Additionally, a full 50% of global malnutrition is attributed to lack of access to high quality safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services, showing how critical WASH is as a foundation to health.
The latest access figures (for 2010) show that 2.5 billion people (around one in three of the world’s population) still lack access to sanitation, while 783 million people (around one in ten of the world’s population) still lack access to clean drinking water.
In order to redress these gaps in basic dignity and human rights and contribute to ending preventable childhood deaths, WaterAid calls on the United States Congress to provide $400 million for safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, as approved by the Fiscal Year 2013 Senate Appropriations Committee; and to urgently pass the
Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act (H.R. 3658 and S. 641) in order to ensure that US agencies are focused on spending existing resources most effectively and increasing transparency in how they prioritize WASH interventions around the world without spending any new money.
For further information or interviews, please contact: Susannah Gold, WaterAid, on + 1 917 207 5375 or
sgold@wateraidamerica.org - Details as to the levels of water and sanitation
access across the globe can be accessed from www.wssinfo.org
- WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water
and sanitation. The international organization works in 27 countries
across Africa, Asia, Central America and the Pacific region to transform
lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in some
of the world’s poorest communities. Over the past 30 years, WaterAid
has reached 15.9 million people with safe water and, since 2004, 11
million people with sanitation. For more information, visit
www.wateraidamerica.org, follow @wateraidamerica on Twitter or visit us on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/wateraidamerica
- Further information on A Promise
Renewed and evidence-based analysis of the highest-impact interventions
to prevent under-five mortality rates is available at
www.APromiseRenewed.org. A list of signatories to a non-governmental
organization pledge to support and advance the objectives and approaches
of A Promise Renwed are also available, in addition to a government
pledge that has been signed by almost half of the world’s governments.
- The Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act (H.R 3658 and S. 641) is
a bipartisan initiative led by Congressmen Judge Ted Poe (R-TX) and
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Richard Durbin
(D-IL). Its objectives are to improve the efficiency of existing US
investments in safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene; to increase
transparency of investments and analysis of greatest impact; to enhance
coordination across US foreign policy objectives; and to build US and
global capacity to implement best-practice WASH programs—all without
increasing the funds required.
- 783 million people in the world
do not have access to safe water. This is around one in ten people
worldwide.
- 2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to
adequate sanitation. This is around one in three people worldwide.
- An
estimated 5-6% of Gross Domestic Product in countries of sub-Saharan
Africa and South Asia is lost each year due to lack of access to WASH.
- For every $1 invested in water and sanitation, $8 is returned in
increased economic productivity and reduced health care costs.
- Just
$25 can enable one person to access safe water, improved hygiene and
sanitation.