Some 650 million people, or one in 10 of the world’s population, do not have access to safe water, putting them at risk of infectious diseases and premature death.
Dirty water and poor sanitation can cause severe diarrhoeal diseases in children, killing 900 under-fives a day across the world, according to United Nations estimates – or one child every two minutes.
Children drink water from a public water pump on the outskirts of Kabul.
Among newborn babies, the World Health Organization says infections caused by a lack of safe water and an unclean environment cause one death every minute somewhere in the world.
A girl collects drinking water at Dala river outside Yangon.
A civil defence worker pours water from a water truck near a dry lake in Presidente Figueiredo, in Amazonas state
The WHO estimates that every $1 invested in improving water supply and sanitation services yields gains of $4 to $12, depending on the type of intervention.
An employee at a boat station drills a hole in the frozen surface of the Yenisei River to draw fresh water for cooking and drinking.
