What kills more women than AIDS and breast cancer? Dirty water

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

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.

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