|
Home The Royal Society |
Press
Release
Keeping Up the Water Pressure
More than one billion people presently lack access to clean drinking water, and another billion people lack access to proper sanitation. A lack of clean water and sanitation is the main cause of around 75% of human disease and more than 5m people die of water-related diseases every year. The Royal Society for the Promotion of Health played a leading role in our country's great leap forward in public health,' says Chairman Tony Hawkes. 'In the 19th century our Members pushed for and implemented major improvements in sanitation in Britain's cities. It was these advances in public health which allowed people to live longer, healthier and more productive lives. Bringing these same reforms to the poorer nations of the world is long overdue.' If achieved, the Johannesburg target will have a major impact on human health and welfare. However there are major costs involved in laying down infrastructure for clean water and there is a growing shortage of water available for domestic use worldwide. 'Agriculture is by far the biggest user of the world's water' says Tony Hawkes 'and there is a direct link here between sustainable, environmentally-friendly farming practices and the provision of water for domestic use. The challenge for 2015 is not just to ensure that the water delivered is clean - it is to ensure that there is water available at all. The UN has declared 2003 to be the International Year of Fresh Water. There is no better time to start.'
Of the water available for human use: The Royal Society for the Promotion of Health was founded in 1876. We are the UK's largest and longest-established multidisciplinary membership organisation in the field of health. Our Members share an interest in promoting health through their daily work, and have joined us as a professional network that cuts across traditional professional boundaries. Our founders included Edwin Chadwick and Florence Nightingale.
10 September 2002 back to press releases main page |