Thursday 24 January 2008

International Year of Sanitation

8PBr spent some time looking at water and sanitation last week, and were shocked to discover that 1.1 billion people - about a sixth of the world's population - do not have access to clean, safe water... And that 2.6 billion people - about 40% of the world's population - do not have access to adequate sanitation.

The picture below (from Ecumenical Water Network) was taken in Kibera - a slum in Nairobi, Kenya. For those people who cannot afford to pay to use a filthy latrine, the alternative is a plastic bag, which ends up in the street. These so-called "flying toilets" contribute to the horrifying statistic that 1.8 million children die before the age of 5 - from diarrhoea.



BBC correspondent, Fergal Keane, visited Kibera yesterday, to coincide with the launch of the United Nations International Year of Sanitation. You can watch his report here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is awful....eww
I wish someone would do something about it!!

Miss Ellis said...

I agree... People are trying to do something about it though - that is why this year is International Year of Sanitation, and that is why charities like WaterAid are working so hard. Though whether it should be organisations like that - or the Kenyan government - who are sorting the problem out is another matter altogether...