Africa: The 20th anniversary of World Water Day

Today, on the 20th anniversary of World Water Day, WaterAid (http://www.wateraid.org) is calling on international leaders to support an ambitious target of providing access to water, sanitation and hygiene for amount Africans by 2030. The call comes as over 50,000 people take part in additional than 30 mass walking events across Africa to call on their governments to keep their promises on access to clean water and safe sanitation. 

They are joining additional than 350,000 people worldwide who are participating in World Walks for Water and Sanitation between Saturday 16 and Saturday 23 March.

Writing in a new statement published by WaterAid today, President Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia said:

“Addressing the world water and sanitation crisis is not about charity, but opportunity. According to the World Health Organisation, each $1 invested in water and sanitation produces an average of $4 in increased productivity. It enables sustainable and equitable economic increase. In short, it will not be possible to make evolution in eradicating poverty, reducing inequality and securing sustainable economic development someday without improving access.”

WaterAid’s statement ‘Everyone Everywhere’ launched today(1) by President Johnson Sirleaf at a UN event on water in the Hague, in the Netherlands, sets out a vision for making safe water and sanitation available to amount and reviews the evolution that has been made to date in tackling water and sanitation poverty.

The statement finds that, lack of evolution in improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene is acting as a brake on evolution in economic and human development particularly in child health, nutrition and education. WaterAid cites World Health Organisation figures that show the economic gains that Africa could make through everyone on the continent having access to water and sanitation.

Africa could gain $33 billion each year from everyone having access to water and sanitation. Of this $4.5 billion would come from reduced healthcare costs; $7.2 billion could be gained from reduced mortality; $2 billion from less time taken off from work; and a staggering $19.5 billion in general time saved(2).

The benefits for Africa in lives saved from everyone having access to water and sanitation on the continent are as well significant. It is estimated by the Institute of Health Metrics that around 550,000 people die of diarrhoea diseases each year in Sub-Saharan Africa(3), 88% of whom, according to the World Health Organisation, can be attributed to a lack of water, sanitation and hygiene(4) that equates to 480,000 deaths due to a lack of these services on the continent.

Nelson Gomonda, WaterAid Pan-Africa Programme Manager said:

“Nothing could better demonstrate that our continent has truly begun to realise its potential and is coming authentic on its promise of evolution and development, than achieving the fundamental goal of each African having safe drinking water.”

“330 million Africans today live without access to clean water, so the road to travel is long, but we can for the prime time see the end in sight. With additional than 1,000 African children under the age of five dying each day from diseases brought about from a lack of water and sanitation, Africans will not accept failure. We have to reach this target.”

“Additional than 50,000 Africans are taking part in walks to show that that these services are a priority that we want and need. Africans understand how a lack of water and sanitation affects their health, economic productivity, their children’s education, women’s rights – across each spectrum of development, water and sanitation plays its part. This is why evolution on these basic services will have such significant consequences for our continent and people.”

Currently in Sub-Sahara Africa, 334 million people (39% of the people) lack access to clean drinking water, while under 600 million (70%) lack access to sanitation(5).

To tackle this problem presently, WaterAid is calling on international leaders to:

1. Recognise the need for the framework that replaces the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 to reflect the contribution of water, sanitation and hygiene to other areas of poverty reduction, inclunding health, education, gender equality, economic increase and sustainability.

2. For the UN to set a new world target to achieve universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030.

3. Identify ways of accelerating next rates of evolution on sanitation if the goal of universal access is to be met by 2030.