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The Royal Society
for the Promotion of Health
38A St. George's Drive,
London, SW1V 4BH
 
Tel: (+44) (0) 20 7630 0121
Fax: (+44) (0) 20 7976 6847
 
rsph@rsph.org

Press Release


World Water Day: Society Welcomes €1bn Funding


The Royal Society for the Promotion of Health warmly welcomes the EU's decision to announce, on World Water Day, a new special Water Facility to promote access to clean water and sanitation for people in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. The facility is worth up to € 500 million in the first instance.

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 Society responded by urging the Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for International Development, and Europe Minister Dr Denis MacShane MP, to commit the UK government right away to releasing the money.

The Society is 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.

Announcing the release of funds on 22 March, Commissioner Nielsen said:

"When people around the world today mark World Water Day, they do it against a gloomy background: with one in two hospital beds in the world occupied by victims of water-borne diseases and with an estimated 6 000 children dying every day of diseases caused by poor sanitation and hygiene. Access to clean water and basic sanitation is a matter of life and death. For billions of people around the world this is a harsh reality. With increasing pressure on the world's freshwater supply and the continuous degradation of water quality in some regions, we face a formidable challenge. We have taken upon ourselves the challenge to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. World Water Day is an occasion for us to come together and reconfirm our commitment to act and act decisively. "

Notes for Editors

1. The EU Commission's call for release of funds here

2. Our revious press releases on this topic 13/2/04, 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.


22 March 2004