Improving sanitation for the world's poor
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Edition Summary:
Talking about sanitation is not "nice". It's a matter of life and death. Poor hygiene leads directly to diseases such as cholera and diarrhea – which in turn kill five million people a year, mostly children.
Better sanitation facilities could reduce diarrhea-related morbidity by more than one third, while improved hygiene, such as proper hand-washing, can halve the rate of diarrheal disease and respiratory tract infections in the first place.
According to a key United Nations report, more children die today because of unclean water and poor sanitation than from violent conflict, and the sanitation crisis causes greater economic devastation than any act of terrorism. Yet this issue of basic human security is virtually absent from the international agenda.
This issue of Global Future presents some critical responses to the problem. Local, national and international investments must be stepped up so that the world’s poor have full, informed access to this critical human right, while ensuring water and safe environments for the future. Even more fundamentally, attitudes need to change; we need to face the situation anew.
If each of us looked at every community we know and asked: "Would I let my own children play here?", we might find the will-power and commitment, and a willingness to live as good neighbours.
Contributors to this edition include:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town
Clarissa Brocklehurst, Chief of Water, Environment and Sanitation, UNICEF
Anna Tibaijuka, Under Secretary General,
UN-HABITAT
Lester Brown, Founder and president, Earth Policy Institute
World Vision staff contributors
PLUS "Voices of life from around the globe" - case studies from Vanuatu, and Bolivia.
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