UN's last chance to get poverty targets back on track

Poor water and sanitation are responsible for at least 5,000 child deaths every day.

Credit: WaterAid / Suzanne Porter

11 September 2008

New figures released today by the United Nations reveal progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

But with most of the goals currently off track, International Development NGOs Tearfund and WaterAid say that political neglect and under-funding of sanitation and water are at the heart of this failure.

The MDG target for sanitation is one of the most off track, undermining all other development efforts. This is causing the deaths of millions of children each year, impeding progress in education and health, and preventing economic growth. There is a danger that in sub-Saharan Africa some goals are so far behind that they will not even be met this century.

In a report launched today by both agencies, Sanitation and Water - Why we need a global framework for action, the reasons why sanitation and water are vital to all areas of development are highlighted.

"Without clean water and a safe, hygienic place to go to the toilet, millions of people will remain in poverty - yet governments are failing to act. Inadequate sanitation and water are amongst the biggest causes of child mortality - another of the goals lagging furthest behind - killing at least 5,000 children every single day. This report highlights the weak global response:  aid for water and sanitation is declining as a proportion of overall aid and is extremely poorly targeted  plus there is a total lack of coordination and accountability at the highest level."  Mari Williams, Senior Policy Adviser for Water and Sanitation, Tearfund.

Both Tearfund and WaterAid are demanding that world leaders agree a global framework for action. The UN's High Level Event taking place in New York, 23-25 September, has a specific remit to address the MDGs that are most off track.

"The void of accountability in the sanitation and water sector is responsible for the lack of progress demonstrated in today's report from the UN. The link is most apparent in the child mortality figures where millions of children are dying from water-related diseases, but it is also preventing education targets from being met - 443 million school days are lost each year due to diarrhoea.

"The only evidence of progress in international development, for example in the education and health sectors is the result of more and better aid combined with a framework holding leaders to account for their commitments. Unless we address the accountability vacuum in the sanitation and water sector we may as well kiss goodbye to most of the Millennium Development Goals." Laura Hucks, Policy Officer, WaterAid.

The report, highlights the appalling lack of international leadership in the sector and the shortfall of aid going to sanitation and water compared to other sectors. The report charts what aid is needed and where it must be targeted, currently the majority goes to middle income countries (e.g. China, Jordan, Iraq, Malaysia, Indonesia), whilst less than a quarter goes to Least Developed Countries.

Read the report Sanitation and Water - Why we need a global framework for action

Notes to Editor

WaterAid enables the world's poorest people to gain access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education. Our vision is of a world where everyone has access to these basic human rights which underpin health, education and livelihoods forming the first, essential step in overcoming poverty.
Tearfund is one of the UK's leading relief and development agencies working in partnership with churches around the world to tackle the causes and effects of poverty.

• At least 5,000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.
• 884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population.
• 2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population.
• WaterAid projects providing safe water, sanitation and hygiene education cost just £15 per head.