(Baonghean.vn) - About 650 million people, or 1/10 of the world's population, do not have access to safe water sources and are at risk of infectious diseases and premature death.
Dirty water and poor sanitation can cause serious childhood illnesses such as diarrhea, killing 900 children under the age of five every day, or one every two minutes, according to United Nations estimates.
As for infants, the World Health Organization (WHO) says infectious diseases caused by lack of clean water and unsanitary environments cause one death every minute worldwide.
The United Nations affirms that access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation services is essential for human health, while the WHO estimates that every dollar invested in improving water supply and sanitation services will yield a return of between $4 and $12.
Take a look and think about the water situation in many places around the world:
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Children drink water from a public pump on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. |
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A girl carries water from the Dala River, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, to her family. |
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Community workers pump water from a water truck supplying an area near a dried-up lake in Amazonas state, Brazil. |
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People in Krasnoyarsk, Russia have to drill through the ice on the Yenisei River to get clean water for drinking and cooking. |
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A Palestinian man leads a donkey loaded with empty barrels and cans as he begins his journey to collect water in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. |
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A boy collects water from a public tap into plastic bottles, photographed on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. |
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The water pipeline runs along the highway connecting Singapore and the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru, transporting nearly 950 million cubic metres of water every day, meeting 60% of Singapore's clean water needs. |
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A resident of a flooded area fills plastic water cans on a boat to take home, in Malabon City, Philippines. |
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Boys fetch water from a swamp in northeastern Baghdad, Iraq. |
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Meanwhile, the people of Najab, Iraq, have to find water from the Euphrates River, transported by truck. |
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A Yemeni woman in traditional dress carries a plastic bottle to ask for water from a charity in the capital Sanaa. |
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A man collects some water from a stream near the Avila Mountain highway in Caracas, Venezuela. |
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A woman collects drinking and cooking water from a public tap in a migrant housing complex in Beijing, China. |
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Many families in San Miguel Xicalco, Mexico install rainwater tanks (black) outdoors to save water for laundry and cleaning. |
Thu Giang
(According to Reuters)