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What Kills More Women than AIDS & Breast Cancer? Dirty Water
A girl takes a bath in a polluted rive in Jakarta, Indonesia.
By Maria Caspani
NEW YORK, March 6, 2015 - (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.
Nearly 800,000 women die every year because
they lack access to safe toilets and clean water, said the development
organisation WaterAid, which analysed data
from the Seattle-based Institute of Health Metrics research centre.
"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.
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 recognises 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.
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.