What
kills more women than AIDS and breast cancer? Dirty wate
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[March 06, 2015] By
Maria Caspani
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) -
Diseases spread through dirty water and poor sanitation are the fifth
biggest killer of women worldwide, causing more deaths than AIDS,
diabetes or breast cancer, researchers say.
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Nearly 800,000 women die every year because they lack access to safe
toilets and clean water, said the development organization WaterAid,
which analyzed data from the Seattle-based Institute of Health
Metrics research center.
"This completely unacceptable situation affects women and girls'
education, their health, their dignity and ultimately, in too many
cases, results in an early and needless death," WaterAid CEO Barbara
Frost said in a statement.
The only conditions more fatal for women than the lack of decent
sanitation are heart disease, stroke, lower respiratory infections
and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to the report.
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More than 1 billion women, or one in three women around the world,
do not have access to a safe, private toilet, while 370 million -
one in 10 - do not have access to clean water, according to WaterAid.
More than 2 billion people gained access to clean water between 1990
and 2012, but nearly 750 million remain still lack what the United
Nations recognizes as a human right.
Dirty water and poor sanitation are at the root of problems such as
maternal and child mortality, and sexual violence.
Many women in developing countries give birth at home without access
to clean water, exposing themselves and their babies to infections.
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Without safe toilets, women and girls have to venture outdoors to
relieve themselves, often at night, putting them at risk of sexual
harassment and assault.
Moreover, in many poor countries fetching water is considered a the
responsibility of women and girls, who spend hours each day trekking
to and from wells, keeping them from attending school or caring for
their families.
(Reporting by Maria Caspani, Editing by Alisa Tang.)
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