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Press Release
Clean Water for All - Call
to release €1bn The Royal Society for the Promotion of Health has urged the UK government to commit itself swiftly to the release of 1bn euro which the EU Commission wants to spend on water and sanitation for the world's poorest people. On 28 January EU Development Commissioner Poul Nielsen called on member states 'to take a bold and urgent decision' to make the money available for projects to halve the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, the 'Johannesburg deadline'. The money is currently held in reserve as part of the 9th European Development Fund. The Society has written to Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for International Development, and Europe Minister Dr Denis MacShane MP, urging them to commit right away to releasing the money. The Society wrote to Prime Minister Tony Blair MP before the Johannesburg Summit in 2002 to affirm our wholehearted support for the British Government's goal of enabling people to lead healthier and more productive lives by improving their access to a safe drinking water supply and appropriate sanitation. We are committed to supporting the Johannesburg objectives on water and sanitation and we are concerned that the international community has taken few concrete steps in the last 18 months to begin delivering them. The targets are ambitious and unless focused development work begins quickly we see little chance that they can be met. Notes for Editors 1. The EU Commission's call for release of funds here 2. Our revious press releases on this topic 1/7/03, 10/9/02, 13/8/02 3.The Johannesburg Earth Summit website The Royal Society for the Promotion of Health is the largest and longest-established public health organisation in the UK. We were founded in 1876 to promote joined up thinking between health professionals and we are a networking organisation that cuts across traditional professional boundaries.
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