What on Earth is DFID doing about water?
Thursday
22 March, 2007 is
UN
World
Water Day
Water is the stuff of life. Safe water and sanitation are fundamental to human development yet over a billion people live without a safe and reliable water supply and half the population of developing countries without proper sanitation.
For example, in Malawi, women typically have to walk seven miles a day just to get enough water to feed and bathe their families.
And if current trends continue, the Millennium Development Goal for water and sanitation won't be met in Africa by 2015.
What is DFID doing about it? We are doubling our funding to water and sanitation in Africa to £95 million a year by 2008 and will double it again to £200 million by 2011.
Why we need a global action plan on water and sanitation
(610
kb) echoes
the message of the 2006
UN
Human Development Report, which argues that poverty, power and inequality -
not water scarcity - are at the heart of the problem.
- Water aid works. Read Part 2 of this feature for more about what DFID is doing and calling for, including case studies on water, Ministerial speeches on water, our top links to water websites and more.
- Our top ten facts about water, including tips
on what you can do, and a link to our comprehensive wall chart. Also, see
the 2007
update of our action plan(851
kb)
- 2005-2015 is the
UN
'Water for Life' Decade
21 March, 2007
