Dirty water 20 times deadlier to children in conflict zones than bullets – Unicef

World Water Day study highlights lethal nature of unsafe sanitation and hygiene for children, especially under-fives

Children under five who live in conflict zones are 20 times more likely to die from diarrhoeal diseases linked to unsafe water than from direct violence as a result of war, Unicef has found.

Analysing mortality data from 16 countries beset by long-term conflict – including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen – the UN children’s agency also found that unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene kills nearly three times more children under 15 than war.

Unicef’s executive director, Henrietta Fore, said the findings, published in a report published on Friday to mark World Water Day, underline the need for access to safe water and sanitation to be treated as a human right rather than a privilege.

“Deliberate attacks on water and sanitation are attacks on vulnerable children,” said Fore.

“The reality is that there are more children who die from lack of access to safe water than by bullets. Water is a basic right. It is a necessity for life.”

The report compared World Health Organization data on “collective violence” and “diarrhoeal disease” from 2014 to 2016 in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Somalia, South […]

Full article: Dirty water 20 times deadlier to children in conflict zones than bullets – Unicef