From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

2 POWER AND POLITICS I READ, THEREFORE I AMworld, reaching 80 per cent in 2000, up from 71 per cent in 1990,while 1.2 billion more people gained access to sanitation. 39 As a result,the reduced threat of infectious disease has contributed to there beingtwo million fewer child deaths per year today than in 1990. But thisstill leaves many people paying a terrible toll. Nearly 5,000 children dieevery day due to dirty water, 1.1 billion people have inadequate accessto water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.Inequality in access to water and sanitation is extreme. Most of the1.1 billion people lacking access to clean water use much less than theminimum threshold of 20 litres a day, often as little as five litres, whilein high-income areas of cities in Asia, Latin America, and Africa,people use several hundred litres a day. Paradoxically, piped watersupplied to middle- or high-income households is often cheaper thanwater bought by the bucket from private tankers. People living in theslums of Jakarta, Manila, and Nairobi pay five to ten times more perunit than those in high-income areas in their own cities – and morethan consumers pay in London or New York. Other inequalitiescompound the problem of unequal access: women tend to attachmore importance to sanitation than do men, but female prioritiescarry less weight in household budgeting.Beyond the obvious direct link to health, access to clean drinkingwater can save hours of back-breaking toil for women, particularly inrural areas. These are hours that could be spent learning a skill, earningmoney, enjoying the company of friends or family, or simply sleepingat the end of an exhausting day. Until they escape the drudgery ofwater collection, women cannot hope to live better lives than theirmothers, or to save their own daughters from the same fate.The case for action on water and sanitation is unanswerable.Economically, every $1 spent in the sector generates another $8 incosts averted and productivity gained. A major UN study put theeconomic losses in sub-Saharan Africa at about 5 per cent of GDP($28bn a year) and concluded:‘No act of terrorism generates economicdevastation on the scale of the crisis in water and sanitation.’ 40In human terms, access to safe water and flush toilets significantlyreduces child death rates. Yet as with other public services, action hasbeen held back by bad advice, Northern arm-twisting and self-interest,and in some cases by public attitudes and beliefs.45