A new report of the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank reveals that, although 2 billion people have gained access to safe drinking water in the last 20 years, 25% of the world’s population still does not have with that service, for which he describes the progress as fragile and inequitable.
The study, released this Monday, calls on governments to invest intelligently in the construction of safe drinking water systems, not only by increasing financing, but also by strengthening the planning, coordination and regulation of the service in a way that adjusts to the strategies of climate change mitigation.
The agencies stress that this phenomenon is causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of droughts and floods, which exacerbates the insecurity of access to water, interrupts its supply and causes suffering in the communities.
On the other hand, rapid urbanization increases pressure on the ability of cities to supply water to the millions of people who live in slums.
The UN agencies recalled that greater access to drinking water has saved many lives and insisted on the urgency of accelerating work to guarantee the provision of this service and human right to the entire population, especially in the face of climate change.
Children and pregnant women are exposed to toxic lead from paint.
The WHO reported that lead poisoning causes about one million deaths each yearplus many millions more people are exposed to low levels of this material, causing chronic health problems such as anemia, hypertension, immunotoxicity, and toxicity to reproductive organs.
The agency also warned that the neurological and behavioral effects of lead may be irreversible.
According to UNICEFa third of the world’s children, or about 800 million, have levels of five micrograms or more of lead per deciliter in their blood, which requires immediate action globally.
The UN agency recommends that the source of lead exposure be identified and terminated for people with high levels of the element in their blood. It also clarifies that there is no safe level of exposure to lead, which invariably damages health, especially that of children.
This Monday begins the Tenth International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, a campaign to raise awareness of the problem and encourage all countries to act on it as an emergency.
Children in a poor neighborhood in Lebanon. (file photo)
Cholera threatens children in the Middle East
The World Health Organization has sounded the alarm over the rate at which the cholera outbreak is advancing in Syria and Lebanon and warned of the risk of further spread to other countries in the region.
He added that urgent support is needed to respond to the emergency and contain the spread of the disease.
In Syria, there are more than 20,000 suspected cases of acute watery diarrhea and 75 deaths have already occurred. In Lebanon, confirmed cholera cases reached 448 in two weeks, ten of them culminating in the death of patients.
The WHO reported that some neighboring countries are already affected with a high level of cases of acute watery diarrhoea.
Cholera outbreaks and acute diarrhea add to the calamities already affecting children in these countries, where there is a high rate of malnutrition and health systems are overwhelmed.
The UN Secretary General met with a group of children in Kaertapur, Pakistan.
The General secretary of the UN affirmed that the United Nations is the product of the hope born after the Second World War to overcome the world conflict and move to global cooperation, as well as the determination to achieve it.
“And today our Organization is being tested like never before. But the United Nations was created for moments like this, ”said António Guterres in his message on the occasion of the UN daycelebrated every October 24, the date on which the United Nations Charter in 1945.
Guterres considered that now, more than ever, the values and principles of the UN Charter must become a reality, giving peace a chance and putting an end to conflicts that endanger the lives and future of people, and the world progress.
“Today, as we commemorate UN Day, let us renew the hope and conviction of what humanity can achieve when we work side by side, in global solidarity,” concluded the Secretary-General.
