Billions Worldwide Lack Safe, Clean Water Sanitation Facilities

In this article from 2017, The United Nations Children Fund ( UNICEF ) warned that the critical shortage of safe drinking water in countries affected by conflict, violence, and instability put millions of children at risk of disease and malnutrition. Children in these fragile situations are four times more likely to lack access to safe water, and that water infrastructure has been deliberately targeted and damaged, leading to widespread water shortages. Their report emphasizes the urgent need to address this crisis and ensure children's right to safe water, particularly in Yemen, Syria, Nigeria, and South Sudan.

Key Points

• Children in countries affected by violence, conflict, and instability are four times more likely to lack access to safe drinking water.
• Over 180 million people in crisis-torn countries have no access to drinking water
• Water supply networks in Yemen are at risk of collapse due to war-inflicted damage and disrepair, cutting off 15 million people from regular access to water and sanitation.
• In Syria, around 15 million people are in need of safe water, including an estimated 6.4 million children.

Water as a Weapon of War

• Water has been deliberately used as a weapon of war, with at least 30 deliberate water cuts in 2016 in countries like Syria, Yemen, and Nigeria
• Water pumps have been destroyed and water sources contaminated, leaving 3.6 million people without basic water services.
• In South Sudan, almost half of the water points across the country have been damaged or destroyed.

Consequences of Water Scarcity

• Lack of safe water leads to malnutrition and potentially fatal diseases like cholera.
• In Yemen, children make up more than 53% of the over half a million cases of suspected cholera and acute watery diarrhea.
• Somalia is experiencing the largest cholera outbreak in the last five years, with nearly 77,000 cases.
• South Sudan is facing its most severe cholera outbreak, with more than 19,000 cases since June 2016.

Urgent Need For Action

• In famine-threatened regions of Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen, nearly 30 million people, including 14.6 million children are in urgent need of safe water.
• More than 5 million children are estimated to be malnourished this year, with 1.4 million severely so.
• Ensuring children's access to safe water and sanitation, especially in conflicts and emergencies, is a fundamental right, not a privelege.

Read full article: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2017/08/childrens-access-to-safe-water-and-sanitation-is-a-right-not-a-privilege-unicef/