WaterAid response to DfID announcement

Posted by
Fiona Callister
on
6 November 2018
In
Health
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Image: WaterAid/Simi Vijay

In response to the DfID announcement this morning that the UK is pledging extra support to help bridge the healthcare gap in developing countries, to help stop women and babies dying in childbirth, Tim Wainwright, Chief Executive of WaterAid UK said: 

“We welcome the extra focus given by the Department for International Development (DfID) to protecting women and babies at the most vulnerable moment of life. WaterAid would like to see DfID give top priority to ensuring that every maternity unit has a reliable supply of clean water, decent sanitation and hygiene facilities, whenever they are needed. 

“Currently one in three healthcare facilities in the developing world does not have clean water, meaning that women have to give birth in dangerously dirty environments. One in five babies who do not survive their first month of life die from sepsis – a disease linked to dirty water and unhygienic environments. 

“A child in sub-Saharan Africa is 30 times more likely to die of infection in the first month than a child in the developed world. We would like to see DfID help ensure that every child born in the developing world has a healthy start to life.”

ENDS

For more information, please contact:  

Fiona Callister, global head of media, [email protected], +44 (0)207 793 5022.

Or call our after-hours press line on +44 (0)7887 521 552 or email [email protected]

WaterAid

WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to clean water and sanitation. The international not-for-profit organisation works in 28 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 25.8 million people with clean water and 25.1 million people with decent toilets. For more information, visit www.wateraid.org/uk, follow @WaterAidUK or @WaterAidPress on Twitter, or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid.

  • 844 million people in the world – one in nine – do not have clean water close to home.[1]

  • 2.3 billion people in the world – almost one in three – do not have a decent toilet of their own.[2]

  • Around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's almost 800 children a day, or one child every two minutes.[3]

  • Every £1 invested in water and toilets returns an average of £4 in increased productivity.[4]

  • Just £15 can provide one person with clean water.[5]

  • To find out if countries are keeping their promises on water and sanitation, see the online database www.WASHwatch.org

 

[1] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG Baselines

[2] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG Baselines

[3] washwatch.org

[4] World Health organization (2012) Global costs and benefits of drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to reach the MDG target and universal coverage

[5] www.wateraid.org/uk