500 Children Die Daily In Sub-Saharan Africa Due To Lack Of Clean Water, Sanitation

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500 Children Die Daily In Sub-Saharan Africa Due To Lack Of Clean Water, Sanitation

West and Central Africa need about $30 billion a year to get access to universal sanitation and clean water.

Every day, about 500 children in the sub-Saharan Africa die due to diarrheal diseases, a soaring figure that could be curbed with some simple measures, experts say. 

UNICEF announced the grave rate on Tuesday, ahead of a conference in Dakar, Senegal, where investment banks, international organizations and businesses will work toward finding ways to raise the funds needed to prevent these fatalities. Kids are succumbing to these illnesses due to the fact that they lack access to clean drinking water, proper sanitation and hygiene.

It would cost about $30 billion a year to bring sanitation and clean water to Central and West Africa, according to UNICEF.

“It cannot be business as usual,” Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF regional director for West and Central Africa, said in a statement. “The pace of progress has to speed up exponentially -- and it’s going to take strong policies; robust financing; and a major shift in priorities among those who have the power to act.”

While adopting its new Sustainable Development Goals in September, the United Nations vowed to bring affordable and universal access to sanitation and clean water by 2030. 

But UNICEF warned that without prompt action, the situation could quickly deteriorate even further over the next two decades. The issue remains that rapidly rising populations could outstrip government efforts to provide essential services.

One particularly concerning issue is the fact that more people in the region are defecating now in the open than they did in 1990. That leads to water contamination and an increase in stunting among children.

A major obstacle is the fact that African countries are allocating only a nominal amount to UNICEF’s Water Sanitation and Hygiene efforts.

Source: Huffington Post

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