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H.E.
Ato Dawit Yohannes, Speaker of the House of Representatives Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen Water and sanitation are children's issues. The largest single cause of childhood illness and death is water and sanitation related diseases. Of the nearly 11 million children who die each year before reaching their fifth birthday, one-quarter succumb to diseases caused by unsafe water and inadequate or non-existent sanitation. Millions more are malnourished and physically and mentally disabled because of water and sanitation related infections. And hundreds of millions of school-age children and adolescents are infected by parasites and flukes, causing or exacerbating malnutrition and anaemia. Water
and sanitation are women's issues. Women and girls spend inordinate amounts
of time fetching water, often walking five kilometers or more to the nearest
water supply. While affecting all school-age children, poor school sanitation
facilities hit girls hardest, pushing far too many from the classroom
for lack of privacy and dignity. UNICEF survey data from 24 countries
shows that one third of sub-Saharan African households are more than 30
minutes from safe water sources (MICS data). Access
to safe water and adequate sanitation is a basic human right as declared
by There are some alarming trends that that certainly need to be taken into account if we are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for water supply and sanitation, that is, to reduce by one half the number of people who do not have access to safe water or basic sanitation by 2015. First, there is the growing and unmet demand for water in situations of conflict and insecurity, which are clearly on the rise globally. In every one of these situations, water is a vital need. Yet resources are always lacking, and so funds often have to be diverted from development programmes to ensure the immediate survival of the population. For example, my organization, UNICEF, now spends 35% of its resources for water and sanitation in emergency situations. The long-term impact of this, if such trends continue, is that achievement of the millennium development goal with regard to safe drinking water will be further deferred. Virtually every country in east and southern Africa was affected by cyclical and often catastrophic flood and drought emergencies and /or other emergencies due to civil strife and population movements in the past few years-all of which necessitate major water and sanitation response programmes. The second alarming trend is that growing water insecurity is contributing to displacement and migration, and it is very likely that future conflicts may even evolve around access to water. So investment in water needs to be understood as an investment in disparity reduction and human security. The third trend is that existing financial resources for the water sector in Africa are still too heavily allocated to upgrading services for the already served-high and middle-income population--rather than the poorest. It is a fallacy to state that people are not willing to contribute for water services. Many consumers, even in rural areas, are willing to pay for sustainable water supply connections. Studies have shown that the value of time saved from water collection alone is sufficient to justify the additional investment required for a higher level of service. We also know that the vast majority of poor without adequate water services already pay large sums to water vendors and would gladly pay heavily toward a similar level of provision of better quality water. UNICEF is committed to ensuring universal access to clean water and adequate sanitation - for the well-being of children, the empowerment of women and human rights for all. UNICEF-supported WES programming has evolved over the last 35 years. In the 1960s UNICEF responded to drought emergencies with rapid drilling and installing boreholes with handpumps. In the 1970s UNICEF provided larger-scale national water programmes. During the 1980s, UNICEF emphasized the need for sanitation, hygiene education, improved community participation and a greater role for women in water and sanitation projects. In the 1990s UNICEF moved beyond merely supplying services and added a new emphasis on utilization, operation, maintenance and sustainability. UNICEF is committed to support interventions in water supply and sanitation in focussing on the following four support areas. Firstly, in providing response in certain critical areas, in particular:
Secondly, building capacities of communities and at the infrastructure level. Thirdly, building new partnerships, with global and national NGOs, with Regional Banks and with Regional Initiatives. Finally, in monitoring the Millenium Development Goals for water and sanitation through the Joint Monitoring Programme. We believe that it would be particularly strategic to focus on school-based water, sanitation and hygiene education. Most of the schools in rural and urban areas in developing countries either lack appropriate sanitation facilities or the existing facilities are in unusable or unsafe condition. This results in schools becoming filthy places where diseases are transmitted and learning achievement is hampered due to the poor health status of students. Millions of school-age children are infected by parasites bringing about or aggravating malnutrition, anaemia and retarding children's physical development and learning capacity. Although the lack of facilities and poor hygiene affect both girls and boys, poor sanitation conditions at schools have a greater negative impact on girls. Girls are more likely to be kept home from school when household chores like fetching water demand children's participation or when family members are sick. We at UNICEF, see this as a worthy and feasible target, which in turn will have a positive impact in many other associated areas including learning achievement, greater gender equity, health and future productivity. Universal access to school-based hygiene and sanitation education combined with safe drinking water in every school would be one powerful way to break the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition, poor health and poverty. In the 21st century, UNICEF continues to work cost-effectively and efficiently with the poorest, most vulnerable and least served. UNICEF promotes sustainability, maximizes social and health benefits through its emphasis on water and sanitation programme linkages with health and with education, fosters cost sharing and cost recovery from communities and forms long term partnerships with governments and communities. UNICEF recognizes that without clean water, adequate sanitation and hygiene promotion all other lofty and noble goals for children will not be met. Thank you.
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