£75m loo aid 'a lifesaver'

from The Times Mirror

By Tom Parry

Ministers have pledged £75million to provide clean water and toilets to millions of poor families in Ethiopia.

The massive aid donation - to be unveiled this week - will put Britain at the forefront of a global effort to stamp out deaths caused by waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea.

International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said: "Almost half of Ethiopia's people lack a safe water supply and the average Ethiopian has to survive on only 15 litres of water a day - compared to 220 litres in the UK.

"The project will pay to build 7,000 water points, as well as latrines in schools and health centres.

"This will mean thousands of lives saved - 15 per cent of all premature deaths in Ethiopia are as a result of diarrhoea."

Today is World Toilet Day on which campaigners will try to spotlight a crisis hitting 2.6 billion people - more than a third of the world's population. Meanwhile 2008 is UN International Year of Sanitation.

Ethiopia has been chosen for aid by Britain because it is one of the worst places in the world for sanitation, with fewer than one in three having access to a proper toilet and most walking three miles to a well or tap.

New latrines should mean school-age girls who are now relied on to collect water can attend lessons instead.

A baby is 500 times more likely to die of diarrhoea in Ethiopia than in the UK.

The move comes as 220 MPs backed the End Water Poverty campaign led by groups such as Water Aid.

TV presenter Adam Hart-Davis, for the charity, said: "Sanitation has saved more lives than anything else in history. A toilet is a lifesaver"