New York, March 20 (QNA) - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that polluted drinking water and the lack of health infrastructure threaten the lives of children around the world.
The organization said in a statement Monday that more than a thousand children under the age of five die every day globally due to diseases caused by inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).
A new analysis from the UN childrens agency, UNICEF, shows that some 190 million children in 10 African countries are at a risk.
UNICEF added that the situation was found to be most acute in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Somalia, located in West and Central Africa. Many of these countries suffer from instability and armed conflict, further aggravating childrens access to clean water and sanitation.
On Wednesday, the UN 2023 Water Conference begins in New York. The conference aims to review the extent to which internationally agreed goals can be achieved, including the UN Sustainable Development Goal on universal access to clean water by 2030.
According to the UN, two billion people globally - one in four - do not have access to clean water. (QNA)