Clean water and sanitation: the keys to breaking free from poverty Access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation are vital for health, especially among children.
Poor sanitation, water and hygiene have many serious consequences:
- Children die from preventable illnesses like diarrhea
- Children – and particularly girls – are denied their right to education because their schools lack private and decent sanitation facilities
- Women are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching water
- Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to illness
- Health systems are overwhelmed and national economies suffer.
It’s impossible to break the vicious cycle of poverty – and enable sustainable development – without first addressing these issues.
The global water and sanitation situation 800 million people still live without safe drinking water.
What’s more, almost two-fifths of the world’s people lack access to sanitation. This means they live in unclean environments where there isn’t a proper waste disposal system in place – and disease is able to spread easily.