Water, Environment and Sanitation

Worldwide, 400 million children live without access to safe water. Around 1.4 million children die every year because they have no access to safe water or adequate sanitation.

The value of water, environment and sanitation equipment procured in 2004 has increased by almost 25 per cent over 2003, reaching $46 million. A large part of this was the $9 million spent on the rehabilitation of fresh drinking water systems in Iraq. But the increase was also due to a number of new special projects (in countries including Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and emergencies (especially in Darfur). UNICEF remains a leader in bringing potable water and sanitation facilities to children, their families and schools in 91 countries.