Water and Sanitation

Did you know 4,000 children die needlessly just from drinking unclean water
or using an unsafe toilet every single day? However together with organizations
like End Water Poverty you can do your bit and help us to put an end to a crisis
that has no place in the 21st century.

What is the sanitation and water crisis?

Around 884 million people don’t have access to clean water. So, no clean water
nearby to give to children, or at school, or for your family. People have to
walk miles for water, and it’s usually down to the girls – meaning they miss out
on a vital education.

Worse still is the sanitation problem. The figure is staggering – but 2.6
billion people don’t have a safe toilet, and this has effects you might not have
thought of. For example, it contributes to the fact half of all hospital beds
are taken by people suffering from diarrhoeal illnesses – a massive burden for
fragile developing health systems.

And think about the security risks – there’s no loo in your village or home, so
needing to go in the middle of the night means going into a nearby field – and
countless women are attacked and raped when doing so. UN stats show it stops up
to half of girls attending their classes – they don’t want to risk the
embarrassment of being caught out in the fields