2.5 million rural persons now access safe water – UNICEF

However the children fund also noted that when it comes to sanitation, nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide still do not have adequate toilets and among them 1 billion defecate in the open. Speaking specifically on Nigeria the international organisation revealed that some 70 million people do not have access to safe water and over 110 […]

However the children fund also noted that when it comes to sanitation, nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide still do not have adequate toilets and among them 1 billion defecate in the open.
Speaking specifically on Nigeria the international organisation revealed that some 70 million people do not have access to safe water and over 110 million people have no access to improved sanitation.
In a statement to commemorate the World Water Day, the communication specialist of UNICEF, Mr Geoffrey Njoku added that in the last two years nearly 2.5 million people gained access to safe water in rural areas through UNICEF support that also included funding from EU and UKAid.
The statement reads in part, “UNICEF-supported ‘WASH in Schools’ programming has also brought safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities to thousands of school children in Nigeria.
“Some 2.3 billion people have gained access to improved sources of drinking water since 1990. As a result, the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the percentage of the global population without access was met in 2010.”  
“The poor bear the greatest brunt of this lack of access to water and sanitation. For women and girls, collecting water cuts into time they can spend caring for families and studying. In insecure areas, it also puts them at risk of violence and attack”.
UNICEF estimates that in Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking to collect water.  For children, lack of access to safe water can be tragic. On average, nearly 1,000 of them die globally every day from diarrhoeal diseases linked to unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, or poor hygiene.
This year’s theme on World Water Day, is “Water and Sustainable Development”. The theme aptly encapsulates the overarching role of water in our lives, be it for human consumption, food production, for health, for power generation, for industry and for the sustenance of nature as a whole, without which life would not exist.
This year’s theme highlights the importance of water to our existence and emphasizes the need to look at the holistic development of the water sector, reduce water wastage and prevent contamination of this increasingly scarce resources.