The United Nations Development Programme issued its yearly Human Development report on Thursday, in which it argues that approximately two million children die every year because of the lack of sanitation and clean water, while the poorest countries in the world pay for proper water more than any citizen in Great Britain or the United States.
"Water, the stuff of life and a basic human right, is at the heart of a daily crisis faced by countless millions of the world's most vulnerable people", one of the lead authors of the report, Kevin Watkins, stated, adding that approximately 1.1 billion people are not provided with safe water, while a staggering 2.6 billion suffer from inadequate sewerage.
The main causes for such tragic phenomena are the failure of the government in implementing proper measures to resolve such issues, poverty and inequality and not the lack of water resources, as many would believe.
The report also highlights upon the fact that citizens of many African countries receive less than 20 liters of water a day, as opposed to a British citizen which uses no less than 150 liters a day, while Americans used 600 liters a day. Two thirds of the sub-Saharan population does not benefit from proper toilets. Thus, the report urges the G8 governments, meaning the richest and most industrialized countries in the world, to strive in order to assure their citizens at least 20 liters of water per day, irrespective of their gender, wealth or location.
"In many developing countries, water companies supply the rich with subsidized water but often don't reach poor people at all. With around 5,000 children dying every day because they drink dirty water, we must do more", the International Development Secretary, Hilary Benn stressed.
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