19 August 2008 -- More than 5,000 children under five die every day in part to unsafe water, lack of access to basic sanitation facilities and poor hygiene.

World Water Week (17-23 August) is helping to focus attention on this tragedy for children, who are among the most vulnerable.

It is estimated that more than 1.83 million children die each year as a result of diarrhoeal diseases, in which water, sanitation and hygiene all play a key role.

UNICEF maintains that access to clean water and sanitation are fundamental to every aspect of children's lives- including their health, their survival and their dignity.

Lack of adequate sanitation facilities in schools also has an impact on access to education, with girl's school attendance often falling off when they reach puberty where school sanitation facilities are inadequate.

Providing all children with clean drinking water and improved sanitation and hygiene in schools would make an important contribution to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals, a set of anti-poverty targets to be met by countries around the world by 2015.

UNICEF, along with more than 170 collaborating organizations will meet in Stockholm during World Water Week to discuss issues around water and its impact on health, the environment, and poverty alleviation.

UNICEF will convene seminars on the impact of water, sanitation and hygiene interventions on children, and the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene in schools. Results of recently completed studies on impact and sustainability will be presented and discussed.

UNICEF is working with other international organisations such as the World Bank on an initiative to reduce child deaths by encouraging handwashing. Simple behavioural changes, such as hand washing with soap, can help reduce mortality rates related to diarrhoeal diseases by almost 50 per cent.

Global Handwashing Day (15 October) will provide an opportuntity to motivate and mobilise millions around the world to wash their hands with soap.

More information
World Water Week http://www.worldwaterweek.org 
Global Handwashing Day http://www.globalhandwashing.org