Africa agreement hard to stomach

G8 food initiative undermined by failure on water and sanitation

David Parry/PA

As G8 and African leaders launched a key initiative to tackle the food crisis, End Water Poverty warned that the failure to deliver a promised plan on water and sanitation will derail the battle against malnutrition, and fail to prevent 4,000 children dying of diarrhoea each day.

A staggering 50% of child deaths from malnutrition are caused by repeated bouts of diarrhoea, due to unsafe water and sanitation.

Khumbuzile Zuma, a South African spokesperson for End Water Poverty said “Fighting hunger without providing clean water is like building a house without foundations. For the people of Africa the G8 have undoubtedly failed.

The G8 have abandoned the poor at the very time they are needed most. They had long promised that this summit would see firm action to end the water and sanitation crisis, but they have chosen not to deliver on a commitment that could have transformed the lives of millions.”

Oliver Cumming from WaterAid said “Given that 30% of all child deaths are caused by poor water and sanitation, it is seriously short-sighted of the G8 to ignore this critical issue. The cost of this neglect will ultimately be paid for by the poor, whose health, education and nutrition will all be hurt by the G8’s gross poverty of ambition.”

Paul Cook from Tearfund said “Since the last G8 summit, 1.4 million children have died needlessly of diarrhoea. How many more lives will be lost before the G8 finally decide that enough is enough?”

The intention to launch a G8-Africa Water Partnership was also announced today in a statement between African and G8 leaders. Originally promised to be a centrepiece of the Summit, it contained no specific actions and no extra finance.

A G8 progress report outlining actions on water since the launch of the G8 Evian Water Plan in 2003 shows that the bulk of reported funding increases have gone to Iraq and other regions of political and economic interest rather those of greatest need.

Globally 884 million people have no access to clean water, and 2.5 billion have no access to safe sanitation.

In addition to its impact on nutrition and child mortality, 443 million school days have been lost to poor water and sanitation, while GDP in Africa has been reduced by 5%.

Notes to editors

Oliver Cumming and Khumbuzile Zuma are both at the G8 Summit and available for interview.

For all media requests contact Chloe Irvine +44 75 1494 1577 OR +44 777 1654 544 OR Steve Cockburn +44 79 2008 0855 (all based in L’Aquila).

Khumbuzile Zuma is a water and sanitation worker and campaigner from South Africa. She has worked on various projects with universities and civil society organizations in South Africa, the Netherlands and Tanzania. She is a board member of the End Water Poverty campaign, which is campaign supported by over 150 NGOs in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.