BurkinaFaso, ACF Vojta Vancura
We all know how precious water is to us. But do you know that until today, one in every ten or a total of 650 million people still don’t have access to clean water? 82% of them live in rural areas. Globally, 160 million children under the age of 5 live in places at high risk of drought and around half a billion in flood zones.
Meanwhile, as we’re able to test water more cheaply and efficiently, data from newly available testing technology indicates that an estimated 1.8 billion people may be taking water contaminated by faecal material, including the ones that have access to improved water supply sources. This is mainly due to poor sanitation conditions. Worldwide, 2.4 billion people do not have proper toilets and close to 1 billion of them defecate in the open, which gives faeces the chance to contaminate improved water sources.
Lack of access to clean water can easily expose those vulnerable ones to infectious diseases and cause premature death. According to the UN, every 2 minutes, one child dies from severe diarrheal diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation.
Establishing sustainable water supply and sanitation services not only saves lives, but also benefits the society economically. The WHO estimates that every $1 invested in building water and sanitation facilities yields gains of $4 – $12.
Thanks to you, Action Against Hunger works on improving water, sanitation and hygiene worldwide. With your help, we truck water into affected communities during emergencies, decontaminate wells, install hand-pumps; we locate water resources, protect natural springs and pipe water into villages and more.
This World Water Day, you can take action and support communities that still thirst for clean water by donating to Action Against Hunger’s projects worldwide that provide safe and sustainable drinking water for communities.
Will you join us? DONATE NOW.