Faiths for Safe Water
  • Health is in your hands
  • Our Shared Symbol
  • Global Water Crisis
  • Healthcare's Hidden Secret
  • Water and Peace
  • Water Stories
  • For youth & congregations
  • Faith-based Resources
  • US Foreign Assistance
  • In the News
  • Advisers
  • Faith in Foreign Assistance
    • FIA Talking Points
    • Top 10 Facts of U.S. Foreign Assistance
    • ROI
    • What is the International Affairs Budget and PFDA?
    • 25 Years of Success: U.S. Global Health and Development Assistance
    • Americans Overestimate How Much Goes to Foreign Aid
    • Immigration Faith Leader Quotes
Water is the world's dirty secret.
“No other single intervention is more likely to have a significant impact on global poverty than the provision of safe water.”
- United Nations University



Water offers a path to dignity for every person.

Water offers each of us a way to make that path possible.



 WHAT ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT?

hunger & malnutrition?
food security?
maternal & child health?

girls' education?
gender equality?
violence against women and girls?
HIV/AIDS?
pandemic & disease prevention?

 poverty & economic productivity?
floods/drought & climate change?
national security?
even
peace?


To solve any one of these problems (and many more) you need to know about

THE GLOBAL WATER CRISIS


Water is a child's burden.

FACT:
Fifty percent of undernutrition in children is due to inadequate water and sanitation.

FACT: Diarrhea and pneumonia are the two leading causes of child death and both are frequently caused by unsafe water.

FACT: One-third of school-age children in developing countries are infected with intestinal worms from water.
 
FACT: 272 million school days are lost due to diarrhea.

Picture

Picture
Photo: H2O for Life
Water is a woman's burden.

FACT: Walking down a deserted path to collect water or seeking a bit of privacy to relieve oneself leads to daily violence against women. Read a deeply disturbing, detailed report by WaterAid or for excerpts: click here

 
FACT: Faced with humiliation, girls drop out of school when they reach puberty and don't have facilities to take care of their hygiene needs.

FACT: Bodies break under the heavy buckets, jars and jerry cans filled with water that makes their families sick. They have no choice.





Water is a health burden.

FACT
: 663 million people today lack access to safe water and 2.4 billion (one sixth of the world) doesn't have the dignity and safety of a toilet.


FACT: At least 1.8 billion people globally use a source of drinking water that is fecally contaminated.

FACT: Fifty different diseases and illnesses are linked to unsafe water.

FACT: Less than 10 percent of healthcare facilities have water, soap, toilets and sanitation. 

FACT: Newborns die from preventative, facility-acquired infections.


FACT: Immuno-suppressed HIV/AIDS patients must take anti-retroviral drugs with filthy water that makes them sick and unable to properly absorb the medications.

FACT: 17 different Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are caused by poor water and sanitation, but we’re curing NTDs with medication rather than preventing them with access to safe water and sanitation.

Picture
Photo: Engineers Without Borders


Water is an economic burden.

FACT: Lost working days due to poor sanitation result in nearly $4 billion in damage to the global economy.

Water causes conflict...and peace.

FACT: But more often, water offers a path to peace.


Water is the world's dirty secret.
Picture
Photo: H2O for Life

Let's care about water

because life depends on it.



What do Jay-Z and Jane Goodall have in common?

Faiths for Safe Water had the privilege to ask Dr. Jane Goodall about the global water crisis at the Parliament of the World's Religions.






National Geographic's The Burden of Thirst is 2-minutes that will forever change your perspective.
Jay-Z's video diary offers a surprisingly personal reaction as he visits a village in the southern African nation of Angola.

FAITH VOICES and wallets are influential:
We can help ensure that sustainable clean drinking water and sanitation solutions are part of all the global health and development work we do.
Anything less is a plan guaranteed to fall short of its goals.

WE CAN be better global water citizens:
Save water (and money) at home; raise awareness in our communities; engage our leaders; involve our youth groups and congregations (and have FUN while doing it!) Check out free ideas, curriculum and much more here.


TOGETHER, we can turn this:

Picture
INTO THIS:
Picture
Photo: H2O for Life

And make water the source of health and life for ALL.


Contact:
Susan Barnett
susankbarnett@gmail.com


  • Health is in your hands
  • Our Shared Symbol
  • Global Water Crisis
  • Healthcare's Hidden Secret
  • Water and Peace
  • Water Stories
  • For youth & congregations
  • Faith-based Resources
  • US Foreign Assistance
  • In the News
  • Advisers
  • Faith in Foreign Assistance
    • FIA Talking Points
    • Top 10 Facts of U.S. Foreign Assistance
    • ROI
    • What is the International Affairs Budget and PFDA?
    • 25 Years of Success: U.S. Global Health and Development Assistance
    • Americans Overestimate How Much Goes to Foreign Aid
    • Immigration Faith Leader Quotes