Water Crisis Facts
"We shall not finally defeat AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, or any other infectious diseases that plague the developing world unless we have also won the battle for safe drinking water, sanitation and basic health care."
Kofi Annan, Former UN Secretary General
The following statistics are generally accepted by the United Nations, World Health Organization and Millennium Development goals.
This picture was used with the permission of the Blue Planet Run Foundation.
Water-related illnesses are the leading cause of human sickness and death.
A child dies every 20 seconds from a water-related illness.
4,900 children die each day from diarrhea.
In 1998, 308,000 people died from war in Africa, but more than two million died from diarrheal disease.
Half of the world's hospital beds are currently occupied by patients suffering from a water-borne disease.
2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water and inadequate sanitation.
This picture was used with the permission of the Blue Planet Run Foundation.
Over 76 million people will perish from water-related disease by 2020 unless urgent action is taken.
The World Health Organization estimates that every $1 invested in water and sanitation yields between $3 and $34 in reduced medical costs and increased productivity.
