A lack of safe water is far deadlier for children than a war in more than a dozen conflict-affected countries, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a report launched to coincide with World Water Day, marked on 22 March.
UNICEF’s 16-nation study into how water supplies effect children caught up in emergencies, also shows that children under-five are on average more than 20 times more likely to die from illnesses linked to unsafe water and bad sanitation, than from conflict.
“The odds are already stacked against children living through prolonged conflicts – with many unable to reach a safe water source,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “The reality is that there are more children who die from lack of access to safe water than by bullets.”
According to the report, every year, 85,700 children under-15 die from diarrhoea linked to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities (WASH), compared with 30,900 from conflict.
Some 72,000 under-fives die annually from similar illnesses linked to WASH-access problems, compared to 3,400 from war-related violence.
UNICEF studied data from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Hundreds of millions of youngsters live in areas afflicted by war, the UN agency said, noting that more countries are now embroiled internally and internationally than at any time in the past 30 years.
It highlights the fact that children “are always among the most vulnerable” and face a multitude of threats linked to a lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene services.
These include malnutrition and preventable diseases including diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera and polio.
In 2018, UNICEF provided 35.3 million people with access to safe water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene.
Read and download the Water under fire report.
Original source: UN News
Published on 21 March 2019
