| Ouagadougou,
30 October 2003 - At the occasion of the 2nd meeting of the
African Minister's Council on Water (AMCOW), the Water Supply
and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) launches the Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene campaign "WASH" in collaboration
with the Government of Burkina Faso and the "WASH-STREAMS"
partnership jointly with the Streams of Knowledge (STREAMS)
The Global Coalition of Water and Sanitation Resource Centres.
In Burkina Faso, WASH is launched by Prime Minister Paramanga
Ernest Yonli during the opening ceremony of the 2nd AMCOW meeting.
The "WASH" campaign has been launched by the WSSCC
in 2001 on a global level in order to address the issue of
billions of un-served people. The main objective of WASH is
to contribute to and accelerate progress at the country level
towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on
water and sanitation.
The WASH-STREAMS partnership aims to mobilise all knowledge,
people's energies and financial resources towards a common
goal of a clean and healthy world by 2025. WASH-STREAMS promotes
people-centred approaches through capacity building at local
and grassroots levels in order to achieve permanent improvements
of hygiene, sanitation and water supply as a main stepping
stone towards improved health and livelihoods and a better
quality of life.
At the dawn of the 21st century, some 1.1 billion people
on Earth are still without sustainable access to a safe water
supply and over 2.4 billion are without adequate sanitation.
In Africa, some 400 million people lack access to safe drinking
water, many more lack access to sanitation. In Burkina Faso,
almost half of the households use traditional unprotected
wells and other open water sources as a main or secondary
source of drinking water, next to boreholes and public standpipes.
In the main towns, more than 70% of households use pit latrines,
while 10 to 15% primarily use a septic tank and 15 to 20%
of the urban population have no access to sanitation. In rural
areas, probably as much as 90% of the people defecate in the
field. This situation requires an urgent and joint effort
from all stakeholders - the civil society, the government,
the private sector, donor agencies and non-governmental organisations.
The Water Supply and Sanitation and Collaborative Council
(WSSCC) is a leading international organisation that enhances
collaboration in the water supply and sanitation sector, specifically
in order to attain universal coverage of water and sanitation
services for poor people around the world. WSSCC operates
with a mandate from the United Nations General Assembly from
1990.
STREAMS OF KNOWLEDGE is a Southern led initiative by resource
centres in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe adhering
to its principles. The Executive Secretariat of STREAMS OF
KNOWLEDGE is based in Manila in the Philippines. The West
African Partner of STREAMS is CREPA, the Regional Centre for
Low Cost Drinking Water and Sanitation. In Burkina Faso, the
WASH campaign is a concerted effort of CREPA, WAWP, GreenCross,
WaterAid, and Eau Vive.
More information
www.wsscc.org
- www.streamsofknowledge.net
Ouagadougou: Yéréfolo Mallé,
WaterAid / WSSCC country representative,
Tel.: +226 60 48 63
Geneva: Sören Bauer, WSSCC, Tel.: +41-22 917 8657,
Fax: +41-22 917 8084, Email: bauers@who.int
Philippines: Streams of Knowledge, Tel: +632 4219470,
mail: info@streamsofknowledge.net
Burkina Faso: Cheick Tidiane Tandia, Evariste
Komlan Kouassi, Tel: + (226) 366210/11, fax:
+(226) 366208, Email: crepa@fasonet.bf
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