What we do - The crisis 650 million people don’t have access to safe water. Without this basic service, they have no choice but to drink dirty water that could kill them. Can you imagine life without safe water to drink? For millions of people it's a daily reality. Everyone, everywhere needs a safe and sustainable supply of water: for drinking, washing, cleaning, cooking and growing food. Governments around the world have not done enough to ensure safe water reaches the poorest and most marginalised people in society. In many countries around the world, taps, wells and pipes simply don’t exist. Women and girls suffer the most. Find out how we transform lives with safe water > Poverty and Water in Africa Poverty and Water are Related Read more about...Health Hunger Poverty Education There are a number of reasons why poverty has become an epidemic in Africa. Poverty can be the result of political instability, ethnic conflicts, climate change and other man-made causes. But one of the greatest causes of poverty in Africa is also the most overlooked...the lack of access to clean drinking water. Nearly one billion people do not have access to clean, safe water - that's the equivalent of 1 in 8 people on the planet! For these people, poverty is a fact of life. The foundation of all development The lack of water is an often insurmountable obstacle to helping oneself. Without clean water, the possibility of breaking out of the cycle of poverty is incredibly slim. With unclean water sources often miles from villages, many of the able bodied members of a community are forced to spend hours each day simply finding and transporting water. Wasted Time ...And how you can join us How can you help?
Water, sanitation & hygiene Women and girls from remote mountain villages in North Vietnam walk up to three hours a day to haul water back to their houses for cooking. Here in Australia we turn on our taps. Fresh, clean accessible water for drinking and for cooking. We all need it, only some of us have to go to the limits of human endurance to get it. Almost 900 million people in the world do not have access to clean water – or one in eight people. Unclean water, poor sanitation and unsafe hygiene practices have claimed more lives over the past century than any other cause – and this is continuing in many developing countries – making this one of the world’s most urgent health issues. So, what do we do? Get some of the world’s best water and sanitation engineers and public health specialists with a can-do attitude on to the job. Every second counts in times of crisis. Australia’s overseas aid budget has suffered from successive cuts.