Water: UNICEF reports that 1,000 children under the age of five die every day due to unsafe water supplies

Rome, 22 March (LaPresse) – To mark World Water Day, which is celebrated today, UNICEF highlights that every day around 1,000 children under the age of five die due to unsafe water and sanitation, and that 1.8 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water. This year’s event, dedicated to the theme ‘Where water flows, equality grows’, highlights how access to safe water and sanitation is essential not only for survival, but also for promoting gender equality. In two out of three households, women are primarily responsible for collecting water. In 53 countries with available data, women and girls collectively spend around 250 million hours a day on this task, more than three times as much as men and boys. Furthermore, 156 million girls aged between 10 and 19 still lack access to basic sanitation facilities, compromising their health, dignity and education. “For millions of girls around the world, the global water crisis is not an abstract issue,” says Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director. “It is the reason they wake up before dawn to collect water, the reason they miss school when they have their periods, the reason their safety, their health and their future are put at risk. That is why the global water crisis is, at its core, a crisis for children, and especially for girls.”