An estimated 2,500 experts will meet in Stockholm, Sweden, this week to examine the problems of the planet's water resources at World Water Week 2008.
Img: Woman fills bowl with unsafe drinking water,Sudan. Credit: UNICEF
With this year designated the International Year of Sanitation by the United Nations, the conference will focus on sanitation and hygiene, particularly with respect to the world's children.
Entitled "Progress and Prospects on Water: For a Clean and Healthy World," the meeting will highlight recent studies in these fields including the acknowledged scandal that an estimated 1.4 million children die every year due to lack of adequate sanitation.
"Five thousand children die every day of diarrhoea because of a lack of hygiene and sanitation and nobody really cares," said Stephanie Blenckner, spokeswoman for the Stockholm International Water Institute, the organisation that is hosting the event, in an AFP report. Blenckner added that educating decision-makers about such vital water issues was a priority.
A UNICEF news release said many children could easily avoid such deaths by improving both access to basic sanitation facilities and simple hygiene. Simple behavioural changes, such as hand washing with soap, can help reduce mortality rates related to diarrhoeal diseases by almost 50 per cent, said the statement.
Investing in health improvements in this area is the most cost effective method of improving health, say experts.
The conference will also look at the problem of increasing water stress throughout the world in the wake of global warming, with climate scientists estimating 1.8 billion people will be living in regions with absolute water scarcity by the year 2025. High on the agenda will be the effect human beings are having on the world's climate.
"We have to understand that what we eat and the products we buy have an immediate implication for the availability of the world's water resources," Blenckner said.
The conference will take place from August 17 to August 23 and will consist of meetings and seminars attended by scientists, as well as representatives of major corporations, non-governmental organisations and government.
For more information on World Water Week news and events, visit the official site by clicking here.
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