| Close to half of all people in developing countries are suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits. At any given time, half of the hospital beds in developing countries are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease. |
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Source: The UN Human Development Report 2006,
http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/
Quoting from the report, Chapter 1:
Poor water and sanitation produce nonfatal chronic conditions at all stages of the lifecycle. At any given time close to half the people in the developing world are suffering from one or moreof the main diseases associated with inadequate provision of water and sanitation such as diarrhoea, guinea worm, trachoma and schistosomiasis (box 1.5). These diseases fill half the hospital beds in developing countries. They probably
account for an even greater share of the patients treated in primary health clinics, especially in slums and poor rural areas. Measured by conventional
global health indicators, the burden of disease linked to water and sanitation is enormous:
according to the WHO, it accounts for 60 million disability-adjusted life years lost each
year, or 4% of the global total. The World Bank estimates that 21% of communicable diseases in India are related to unsafe water. In India, diarrhea alone causes more than 1,600 deaths daily
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