Updated 22 March 2002, 13.27

			Fact File
	Water facts
		22 March is United Nations' World Water Day
		Access to clean water and sanitation is a basic human right
		In 1998 war in Africa killed 308,000 people, but diarrhoea killed six times as many
		Many children suffer anaemia and don't grow properly because of bad water
		Dirty water carries millions of parasites

It's now "one of the world's most urgent health crises", say WaterAid and Tearfund.

City overload

The children who suffer most live in overcrowded cities, like Bangladesh.

Millions of people move from the countryside to cities every year. Because there's no room for them, they have to live in slum areas with no toilets or clean water.

They have to go to the toilet in the streets. So any water they have to drink gets polluted.

Simple solutions

Many children have to live in rubbish

Now charities want governments to help. They have published a report which says death and diseases could be prevented cheaply and easily.

A simple toilet could be built in India for £3 or £4.

And if world governments gave £11bn a year, by 2015 it could cut the number of people with no clean water by half.

That's the same amount spent on pet food each year in Europe and the US.

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Past Stories
	Too many children are mentally ill
	Sport Relief launched to help kids
	Afghan children sold for food money
	Poisonous drinking water threatens millions
	Eat 'fairtrade' chocolate, says Cat Deeley
	Thirst for tea takes away childrens' choices
	Starving Afghans eat bread made from grass
	Big rise in child asylum seekers
	Two million UK children going hungry

Web Links
	Tearfund
	WaterAid
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