Red Cross Blogs

World Water Day: Water and sanitation for the world

By Sarah Oughton
March 22, 2010 at 11:22 am

Water. Most of us take it for granted right? How many of you would describe it as your favourite drink? How many think twice about it when you gulp down a refreshing glass of H2O on a hot sunny day, or when you’ve finished a mega session at the gym or the morning after a big night out and your mouth feels like sandpaper?

Today is World Water Day and I’m sure you’ve guessed where this is heading. However much we in the UK take it for granted that we can turn on a tap and get this life-saving drink whenever we feel like it, more than one billion people worldwide lack access to clean water. That’s roughly one out of every six people.

Not only that, but over three billion – half the world’s population – do not have adequate sanitation facilities. Unsafe water facilities and unhealthy hygiene practices contribute to the spread of infections which cause diarrhoea.

Globally, diarrhoea remains the second leading cause of death in children younger than five years. In fact, over 1.5 million children are killed every year by diarrhoea, which is more than are killed by AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

The British Red Cross supports a range of water and sanitation activities in Africa and Asia. The programmes include maintaining and building safe latrines as well as educating communities about the importance of hygiene practices such as washing your hands before cooking and using clean water for drinking.

During emergencies such as floods, water can become contaminated and have a negative impact on people’s health. Reducing the spread of disease after a disaster is key to saving lives.

Check out this photo gallery about the water and sanitation work we are currently doing in Haiti.

Images © Claudia Janke/BRC

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Tags: diarrhoea, Emergencies, Haiti, Health and social care, hygiene, sanitation, water

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 11:22 am and is filed under Health and social care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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