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PRESS RELEASE

World Water Day Worlds poorest have least access to safe water: UNICEF
1,400 children under five die each day from causes linked to lack of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene NEW YORK/CONAKRY 21 March 2014 Almost four years after the world met the global target set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for safe drinking water, and after the UN General Assembly declared that water was a human right, over three-quarters of a billion people, most of them poor, still do not have this basic necessity, UNICEF said to mark World Water Day. Estimates from UNICEF and WHO published in 2013 are that a staggering 768 million people do not have access to safe drinking water, causing hundreds of thousands of children to sicken and die each year. Most of the people without access are poor and live in remote rural areas or urban slums. UNICEF estimates that 1,400 children under five die every day from diarrhoeal diseases linked to lack of safe water and adequate sanitation and hygiene. In Guinea, over 100 children die out of every 1,000 born that means that 53,000 children die every year or 145 children every day. Every child, rich or poor, has the right to survive, the right to health, the right to a future, said Sanjay Wijesekera, head of UNICEF's global water, sanitation and hygiene programmes. The world should not rest until every single man, woman and child has the water and sanitation that is theirs as a human right. In Guinea, UNICEF and partners are working hard to improve access to safe, clean water which is a major challenge in this country. We support partners with manual drilling projects which includes the construction of the tools, mapping of the potential sites, and testing of the water. As a result, hundreds of new water points will be established in the near future. In 2014 UNICEF will have assisted in the drilling or rehabilitation of almost 200 boreholes --- 100 through conventional drilling and almost 100 through manual drilling. This month, UNICEF and SNAPE (The Ministry of Energy and Hydraulics) have completed a pilot project to map water points in four districts in Guinea. With real time monitoring of all pumps and wells, the Government partners will be able to respond much faster to technical problems that arise. The results of the pilot project can be seen here: http://snape.akvoflow.org/ Additionally, UNICEF Guinea took advantage of the massive Measles vaccination campaign to distribute soap and chlorine to families and promote hand washing and hygiene practices. Though the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach we also promote the construction of latrines which helps prevent the contamination of groundwater and the spread of deadly diseases such as cholera. We also work to change attitudes toward sanitation. There are children in Guinea who are dying every day because they have no access to safe drinking water. We have taken steps forward in the improvement of water facilities here in Guinea, said the UNICEF Guinea Representative Dr. Mohamed Ag Ayoya, but we havent turned the corner yet. Even in places where new water points have been established water is contaminated at home or during transportation because of extremely poor sanitary practices.

The MDG target for drinking water was met and passed in 2010, when 89 per cent of the global population had access to improved sources of drinking water such as piped supplies, boreholes fitted with pumps, and protected wells. Also in 2010, the UN General Assembly recognized safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right, meaning every person should have access to safe water and basic sanitation. However, this basic right continues to be denied to the poorest people across the world. What continues to be striking, and maybe even shocking, is that even in middle income countries there are millions of poor people who do not have safe water to drink, Wijesekera added. We must target the marginalized and often forgotten groups: those who are the most difficult to reach, the poorest and the most disadvantaged. UNICEF says women and girls are disproportionately affected by lack of access to safe water. An estimated 71 per cent of the burden of drinking water collection is being shouldered by women and girls. UNICEF WASH programming is taking place in over 100 countries, and new initiatives such as costeffective drilling and community-based water safety planning are bringing safe water to families living in some of the most isolated regions. UNICEF has, for example, used hand-dug boreholes in Pakistan to supply safe water to around 100,000 people since 2012. UNICEF-supported WASH in Schools programming has brought safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities to millions of school children around the world. This week, UNICEF launched a global social media campaign to demand action for the 768 million people without access to safe water. Followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will be asked to discuss what water means to them through the use of photography and the hashtag #WaterIs to help raise awareness of what it means to live without access to safe drinking water. For more information on how to get involved, please follow UNICEF on Twitter (@UNICEF, @UNICEFGuinea and @UNICEFwater), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/unicef) and Instagram (http://instagram.com/UNICEF). ### About UNICEF UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere. For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org Download multimedia content at: http://weshare.unicef.org/mediaresources Follow UNICEF Guinea: Twitter : @unicefguinea Tumblr: http://unicefguinea.tumblr.com Facebook : http://facebook.com/unicefguinea Flickr: http://flickr.com/unicefguinea Instagram: unicefguinea Google+: unicefguinea For further information, please contact: Timothy La Rose, UNICEF Guinea, Tel: (+224) 622 350 251, tlarose@unicef.org Rita Ann Wallace, UNICEF New York, Tel: 1 212-326-7586, Mobile: 1 917-213-4034, rwallace@unicef.org

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