FIONA BRUCE MP IN ‘CRISIS’ TALKS WITH WATERAID ON WORLD TOILET DAY
World Toilet Day was marked around the world on 19th November and Congleton MP Fiona Bruce met volunteers from charity WaterAid at Sandbach library to discuss ways of combating the crisis in water and sanitation globally. Increasing the amount of money spent is crucial, but aid money currently spent on water, sanitation and hygiene projects could go much further if spent in a smarter, more targeted way. WaterAid wants the UK Government to throw its weight behind the Sanitation & Water for All Partnership that brings developing and donor countries together.
WaterAid volunteer Mark Barker from Sandbach said “ Nearly 900 million people globally have no clean water and a staggering 2.6 billion have no proper toilet to use – that’s a third of the world’s population. As a result, more children around the world die from diarrhoea caused by drinking polluted water and poor sanitation, than from malaria, measles and AIDS combined. We want the UK Government to demonstrate global leadership in turning the water and sanitation crisis around.”
Fiona Bruce said “ The UK Government has a good record in giving aid for water and sanitation. This is such a vital issue as it improves health and can get millions out of the poverty trap. More needs to be done in a co-ordinated way by the donor countries and I will continue to urge International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell to attend the next High Level meeting of the Sanitation & Water for All Partnership in Washington next Spring to ensure the world tackles this issue.”
