International aid organisation, WaterAid, has called on governments
attending the ongoing 4th Africa Water Week meeting in Cairo, Egypt, to
as a matter of urgency work towards providing water and sanitation,
for over 100 more Africans within the next two years.
Specifically, WaterAid has asked African Governments to act to
provide safe drinking water to 42.8 million people and adequate
sanitation to 59.9 million by the year 2014.
According to WaterAid, which is core convenor for the sub-theme of
‘Meeting water and sanitation targets’ at the Africa Water Week meeting
taking place from 14th to 19th May, their call is informed by the recent
estimates that in sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 600 million people lack
access to adequate sanitation, while 335 million people lack access to
clean, safe water.
Also, over three quarters of a million children (750,000) in Africa
are said to die every year due to diarrhoeal diseases caused, in the
vast majority of cases, by a lack of safe drinking water and adequate
sanitation.
Speaking to the issue, Nelson Gomonda, WaterAid’s Pan-Africa
Programme Manager stated: “African governments risk their credibility if
they do not seize the opportunity to tackle this crisis by
significantly increasing access to water and sanitation in their
countries. With thousands of African children dying every day,
governments should honour previous promises to increase their spending
on sanitation.”
WaterAid is supporting Africa Water Week which has brought together
policy makers from across Africa, as an opportunity for sharing valuable
skills, experiences, and best practice around achieving access to water
and sanitation for all.
Commitments previously made by African government include those made
most recently by 30 African nations at the Sanitation and Water for All
meeting in April in Washington DC, plus the 2007 eThekwini Declaration
(where governments agreed to budget 0.5% of their GDP on sanitation),
and Sharm El-Sheikh in 2008 (on accelerating water and sanitation
goals).
Currently though, only one African government, Sao Tome and Principe, has met the eThekwini Declaration target.
WaterAid successfully pushed for similar targets on increasing access
to these essential services at the High Level Meeting of the Sanitation
and Water for All partnership in Washington D.C. in April.
At the HLM, nearly 30 African Countries and many other governments
from around the globe agreed to strive to implement baseline commitments
to increase access to water by 5% and sanitation by 7% in their
countries over the next two years.
However, despite global progress, sub-Saharan Africa is not due to
meet its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target on water until 2032
(17 years too late) and not due to reach universal access until 2075.
Further, the region is not due to reach its sanitation MDG by 2175
(160 years too late) and not due to reach universal access until 2360,
says WaterAid.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Development Programme estimates that
the shortfall in water and sanitation services cost sub-Saharan African
countries around 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) each year ($55.6
billion in 2010), more than the amount provided in development aid to
the entire continent ($47.9 billion in 2010).
Lester received a very warm welcome and gave an informative talk that was well received.
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