Global Water Fast Facts

• Worldwide, 1.1 billion people do not have access to an improved water source* (1). Many more obtain their drinking water from improved, but microbiologically unsafe, sources.
• An estimated 2.6 billion people — half of the developing world — lack access to adequate sanitation (almost 40% of the world’s population) (2,3).
• Water-related diseases are the most common cause of illness and death among the poor of developing countries. According to the World Health Organization, 1.6 million deaths per year can be attributed to unsafe water, poor sanitation and insufficient hygiene (4).
• Worldwide, 149 countries and territories are affected by at least one neglected tropical disease (NTD) (5).
• Guinea Worm Disease (GWD) is an extremely painful parasitic infection spread through contaminated drinking water. GWD is characterized by thread-like worms slowly emerging from the human body through blisters. Infection occurs among people living in impoverished communities in remote parts of Africa that do not have safe water to drink. In 2007, over 9,500 cases of Guinea Worm Disease were reported. Most of those cases were from Sudan (61%) and Ghana (35%) (6).
• Worldwide, soil-transmitted helminths infect more than one billion people due to a lack of adequate sanitation (7).
• Trachoma is the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness and results from poor hygiene and sanitation. Approximately 41 million people suffer from active trachoma and nearly 10 million people are visually impaired or irreversibly blind as a result of trachoma (8). Trachoma infection can be prevented through increased facial cleanliness with soap and clean water, and improved sanitation.

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