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United Nations
Marking World Water Week, Unicef calls for boost in sanitation
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18 August 2008 - The United Nations Childrens Fund (Unicef) has
stressed the importance of sanitation and hygiene in schools as events
are held around the globe to mark World Water Week, which began
yesterday.
Over 170 organizations have converged in Stockholm, Sweden, this week
to discuss issues surrounding this years theme for the Week, Progress
and Prospects on Water: For a Clean and Health World.
For its part, Unicef will convene two seminars: one on the impact of
hygiene interventions for children, and the other on the necessity of
clean water in schools.
Over 5,000 children under the age of five die every day due to
diarrhoeal diseases, resulting in part from unsafe water and lack of
access to basic sanitation facilities, according to the agency.
Unicef stressed that simple behavioural changes, such as using soap
when washing hands, can slash mortality rates related to diarrhoea by
half.
Further, the lack of proper sanitation facilities in schools impedes
access to education, with many girls attendance falling when they hit
puberty, the agency said.
News Tracker: past stories on this issue
Despite progress, over 2 billion people lack access to improved
sanitation UN
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