Nearly half the world’s population does not have proper sanitation, and almost two billion people do not have easy access to clean water.
These are two of the findings reported in the Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment, launched by the World Health Organization and Unicef on Wednesday.
The WHO says it hopes to halve these figures by 2015, and provide universal access to water supply, sanitation and hygiene within 25 years.
This would cost an estimated $7 billion per year says Richard Jolly chairman of the Geneva-based Water Supply and Collaborative Council. He notes this is well under half what the US spends on pet food every year,
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The report says a child dies from diarrhoea every 15 seconds. Improving sanitation and water supply could cut that figure by one third, says Jolly says. It should also drastically reduce other waterborne diseases.
Most people with poor water and sanitation services live in Africa.
