Lack of basic services for growing urban populations causing huge public health crisis

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With a rapidly growing urban population lacking clean water and toilets, the developing world is facing a massive public health crisis this World Water Day according to international development charity WaterAid. With the majority of people now living in urban centres rather than rural areas, water and sanitation-related diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera are rife within urban slums which are often unplanned, very densely populated and unserved by even the most basic water and sanitation infrastructure. To mark World Water Day and its theme this year of ‘Water for Cities’, WaterAid is calling on governments to put the highest political priority on the provision of water and sanitation services for the urban poor. “One of the biggest challenges facing the developing world is the rate of urbanisation,” said Margaret Batty, WaterAid’s Director of Policy and Campaigns. “Where there is no safe water supply, people either collect from polluted sources or rely on vendors selling expensive water of dubious and unverified origin. A lack of sanitation facilities means that streets are turned into sites of open defecation and drainage channels become full of untreated waste. This poses a serious health risk, and disease is rampant in many urban slums.” Populations in developing nations are set to triple over the next 30 years with urban areas expected to see the biggest growth. By 2030 around 60% of all the people in the world will be urban dwellers.  884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water, while a staggering 2.6 billion do not have somewhere safe to go to the toilet. It is estimated that between 30 and 60% of the urban population of sub-Saharan Africa has no access to the municipal water supply. In most developing countries of Africa and Asia, national laws discourage the provision of piped water supply to people without land tenure rights – landless, informal settlement dwellers. Women living in slum communities, ashamed of having to defecate in public in daylight hours, wait until night time, and can suffer stomach problems as a consequence. Night time excursions to a latrine are frightening and dangerous because they run the risk of assault or rape.   The impact of having no access to water and sanitation is immense: Diarrhoea caused by unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and insufficient hygiene kill 4,000 children every day.  Half of all hospital beds in the developing world are full with people suffering from water and sanitation related diseases.  443 million school days are lost each year in the developing world due to water-related diseases. Lack of safe water and sanitation costs sub-Saharan Africa around 5% of its Gross Domestic Product each year   “Urgent action must be taken,” concluded Batty. “We cannot stand by and see more children die, more girls out of school and economic opportunities lost in the ever-growing urban slums. The urban population is growing rapidly, and governments around the world must act to halt this expanding health crisis.”   For more information please contact the WaterAid media team on 020 7793 4537 or email pressoffice@wateraid.org   Notes to Editor: The number of people living in urban areas of Africa has increased by at least 10 million every year since 2000.  The total has nearly doubled, from 200 million to 370 million – almost 40% of Africa’s entire population.