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Water and Sanitation
Children fill bottled with clean water at a tap stand in Hassansham camp in east of Mosul, Iraq. (Photo: Tegid Cartwright/Oxfam)
It's all too easy to forget what a miracle water is. In rich countries, clean, safe drinking water is so plentiful and easily available that we simply take it for granted. Access to clean water is a fundamental human right.
Yet around the world, billions of poor people are still facing the daily challenge of accessing safe water sources, spending countless hours queuing or trekking long distances, and coping with the health impacts of using contaminated water.
Millions get sick or die every day because they are forced go without these most basic services . Diseases from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people each year than all forms of violence, including war, making this one of the world’s most urgent health issues.
The costs of unsafe water
2.2 billion people do not have access to clean water at home.
2.3 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, such as toilets or latrines.
Worldwide, over 80% of all wastewater returns to the environment without being treated.
Every day, more than 800 children under five years of age die from diarrhea caused by dirty water.
700 million people worldwide could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030.
Water is central to almost every aspect of Oxfam’s work: our humanitarian responses, our campaigns, and our long-term initiatives to help families improve their incomes, reduce their vulnerability to disasters, and defend their rights.
Our work means ensuring equitable access to water in both quantity and quality, which prevents disease and sustains lives and livelihoods; reducing environmental health risks by managing sanitation safely and with dignity; and, involving women and men in managing water and sanitation resources and safe hygiene practices to maximize the benefits for their communities.
Mariama, 13, uses a new borehole installed by Oxfam as part of ongoing water and sanitation work following the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone.