Children living in fragile situations are four times more likely to lack access to basic drinking water
NEW YORK and STOCKHOLM, Aug. 29, 2017 /CNW/ - More than 180 million people do not have access to basic drinking water in countries affected by conflict, violence and instability around the world, UNICEF warned today, as World Water Week gets under way.
"Children's access to safe water and sanitation, especially in conflicts and emergencies, is a right, not a privilege" said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF's global chief of water, sanitation and hygiene. "In countries beset by violence, displacement, conflict and instability, children's most basic means of survival – water – must be a priority."
People living in fragile situations are four times more likely to lack basic drinking water than populations in non-fragile situations, according to a recent UNICEF and World Health Organization analysis. Of the estimated 484 million people living in fragile situations in 2015, 183 million lacked basic drinking water services.
In Yemen, a country reeling from the impact of over two years of conflict, water supply networks that serve the country's largest cities are at imminent risk of collapse due to war-inflicted damage and disrepair. Around 15 million people in the country have been cut off from regular access to water and sanitation.
In Syria, where the conflict is well into its seventh year, around 15 million people are in need of safe water, including an estimated 6.4 million children. Water has frequently been used as a weapon of war: In 2016 alone, there were at least 30 deliberate water cuts – including in Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, Raqqa and Dara, with pumps destroyed and water sources contaminated.
In conflict-affected areas in northeast Nigeria, 75 per cent of water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, leaving 3.6 million people without even basic water services.
In South Sudan, where fighting has raged for over three years, almost half the water points across the country have been damaged or completely destroyed.
"In far too many cases, water and sanitation systems have been attacked, damaged or left in disrepair to the point of collapse. When children have no safe water to drink, and when health systems are left in ruins, malnutrition and potentially fatal diseases like cholera will inevitably follow," said Wijesekera.
In Yemen, for example, children make up more than 53 per cent of the over half a million cases of suspected cholera and acute watery diarrhea reported so far. Somalia is suffering from the largest outbreak of cholera in the last five years, with more than 77,000 cases of suspected cholera/acute watery diarrhea. And in South Sudan, the cholera outbreak is the most severe the country has ever experienced, with more than 19,000 cases since June 2016.
In famine-threatened north-east Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, nearly 30 million people, including 14.6 million children, are in urgent need of safe water. More than five million children are estimated to be malnourished this year, with 1.4 million severely so.
About UNICEF
UNICEF has saved more children's lives than any other humanitarian organization. We work tirelessly to help children and their families, doing whatever it takes to ensure children survive. We provide children with healthcare and immunization, clean water, nutrition and food security, education, emergency relief and more.
UNICEF is supported entirely by voluntary donations and helps children regardless of race, religion or politics. As part of the UN, we are active in more than 190 countries - more than any other organization. Our determination and our reach are unparalleled. Because nowhere is too far to go to help a child survive. For more information about UNICEF, please visit www.unicef.ca. For updates, follow us on Twitter and Facebook or visit unicef.ca.
SOURCE UNICEF Canada
For interviews or more information, please contact: Stefanie Carmichael, UNICEF Canada, T: 416-482-6552 ext. 8866, E: [email protected], Tw: @stefccarmichael
UNICEF is the world’s leading humanitarian organization focused on children. We work in the most challenging areas to provide protection, healthcare and immunizations, education, safe water and sanitation and nutrition. As part of the United Nations, our unrivaled reach...
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