August 18, 2009
WaterAid at Stockholm World Water Week 2009

WaterAid has joined 2,500 experts at the Stockholm World Water Week, to call for urgent attention to be given to the water and sanitation crisis and to push for inspired global leadership to address this.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 800 million people do not have access to safe water, while a staggering 2.4 billion do not have a safe place to go to the toilet.

The lack of safe water and good hygiene is holding back human and economic development.
Barbara Frost, Chief Executive, WaterAid

"The lack of safe water and good hygiene is holding back human and economic development – the WHO estimates that every year, 1.4 million children die from diarrhea directly caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation, and hundreds of millions of children miss school as a result of being ill," said WaterAid Chief Executive Barbara Frost. "The current response of the international community is inadequate."

WaterAid has been calling for governments to resolve this crisis by implementing a Global Framework for Action – a comprehensive action plan to ensure that water and sanitation are prioritized by governments and donors alike – and is using the opportunity of the World Water Week to progress this further.

"The poor progress in sanitation is holding back achievement of the Millennium Development Goals - without greater attention to sanitation the health and education goals are unlikely to be realized" added Frost. "The international development community needs to target resources at the areas of critical failure. Unacceptable levels of poverty in the developing world will continue to exist if we do not implement a shared framework for action to highlight the desperate need for increased investment in this neglected sector."

A proposed global framework for action has been championed by UNICEF, the Dutch and the UK governments. However, there is still a long way to go, and more high level support is needed.

The Chair of WaterAid in Sweden, Jan Eliasson, former United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Darfur and one-time President of the United Nations General Assembly has echoed the call for concerted global action in the week's opening address.

Highlighting the need to work across development, human rights and peace, Eliasson said: "If you don't combine these three, you will not have stable progress. And the water issue comes back on all these three parameters, a life of dignity for all." He called on governments to take action and give higher priority to water and sanitation – highlighting the need for a global framework for action in the sector.

Watch an interview with Jan Eliasson at World Water Week (opens in a new window)

WaterAid is leading sessions at World Water Week on Manual Scavenging, Small Town Planning and the Global Framework for Action.

Read Barbara Frost's blog from World Water Week (opens in a new window)

Notes to editors

• In 1995 WaterAid was awarded the Stockholm World Water Week prize for delivering 'water and sanitation to the world's poorest and most needy'.
• WaterAid is an international charity. Our mission is to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. We work with partners and influence decision-makers to maximize our impact. We work in 17 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Region.
• WaterAid's Chief Executive Barbara Frost is at the World Water Week and is available for interview.