Launched here today at the Citizen’s House of Water and Agora during the 3rd World Water Forum, the initiative was discussed at an informal dialogue with young people attending the Children’s World Water Forum (20-21 March). Led by children’s author and WASH supporter Mrs. Nane Annan, the dialogue also featured other high-level dignitaries such as HRH the Prince of Orange of The Netherlands, H.E. Minister Ronnie Kasrils, Minister of Water and Forestry of South Africa, Sir Richard Jolly, Chair of the WSSCC and UNICEF representatives attending the Forum.

Empowering young people through hygiene promotion and education will make schools safer and healthier for all children and will provide entryways for hygienic change in families. An innovative aspect of the campaign will be the involvement of the children themselves in the planning and design of the campaign. The Kyoto event will be in the form of a dialogue with young persons led by Canadian youth leader, Ryan Hreljac taking a lead role in the discussions.

According to UNICEF and the WSSCC, over 200 million school-age children in the developing world are infected with parasites and flukes. Water and sanitation related diseases cause physical and mental development lags, dwarfing a child’s ability to learn.

Far too many schools in the developing world have appalling sanitary conditions, contributing to sickness and disease among students. Quality education cannot effectively reach children if schools pose hazards to their health and if they drop-out of school because of a lack of the basic necessities of safe water and adequate sanitation.

“Every primary school in the world should be equipped with separate sanitary facilities for boys and girls and have a source of clean and safe drinking water,” says Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF.

WASH in Schools is also directly linked to another UN Millennium Development goal – that of eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education. In order to jump-start the march towards gender parity in education, UNICEF has initiated ‘25 in 2005’ in 25 countries with large gender gaps, over a million girls not in school or where enrolment and gender equity are under threat by HIV/AIDS, civil conflicts, disasters or emergencies.

UNICEF and WSSCC believe that providing safe water, clean separate sanitation facilities and hygiene education will keep girls in school. “Water, sanitation and hygiene are fundamental human rights and are essential for human dignity,” says Gourisankar Ghosh, Executive Director of the Geneva-based WSSCC. “Where there are schools with clean facilities, there are children who are able to learn, live more healthy, productive lives and can become agents of change,” he added.

‘WASH in Schools’ is a joint UNICEF/WSSCC initiative that stems from the global WASH – Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All campaign – first introduced by WSSCC at the Bonn International Conference on Freshwater and followed by launches in South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, The Philippines, Madagascar, Senegal and in other countries. The WSSCC and its partners, including national and regional co-coordinators working in over 140 countries, will work closely with UNICEF in reaching out to schools and communities in the next few years.

For more information, please contact: Mr. Alfred Ironside?, UNICEF, Tel., Fax, E-mail or Ms. Vanessa Tobin, Chief, Water, Environment and Sanitation, UNICEF, New York at Tel:+1(212) 824-6307; Fax:+1(212)-3267371; E-mail: vtobin@unicef.org or Ms. Eirah Gorre-Dale, WSSCC, New York at +1(917) 367-2420; in Japan, cellphone no.+81 090-6956-3293; Fax:+1(917) 367-3391; E-mail: gorre-dale@un.org