More children die from dirty water than bullets

Image above shows Nabil with his son Mohammed who has recovered from cholera.

Pauline Murphy

Legacy Gifts Manager, UNICEF

You have to agree; this is shocking. Every year, 72,000 children under five die from illnesses linked to dirty water, compared with 3,400 from war-related violence.

Yet, UNICEF is making a difference and has water programmes in 158 countries around the world. These are funded thanks to the generosity of our donors, including those who decided to leave a legacy gift in their Will.

Making a difference in Yemen

In Yemen, UNICEF has solar-powered water projects securing safe water for 2.5 million Yemenis, including 137,000 people in the city of Dhamar. This is where Nabil, his wife Salma and their three children live, having been forced to flee conflict in their hometown of Taiz.

The blockade of Yemen’s Hudaydah port had stopped supplies of fuel into the country needed for its infrastructure to function. So, even in Dhamar’s relative safety, the family’s existence was perilous. Nabil and his family lived in inadequate housing with no reliable income. They struggled to find anything to eat or drink and once had to survive three days without a drop of water.

The family’s only water source was from trucks where the whole family would join long queues to get 20, sometimes 30, litres — just 4–6% of what the UN recommend the family has each day. Nabil says: “The water tasted strange; it tasted odd.” It didn’t affect the adults, but the water made three-year-old Mohammed ill. Suffering from a sore throat, vomiting and diarrhoea, he was diagnosed with cholera at the hospital.

Water crisis affects safety and education

Nabil and Salma were distraught, convinced Mohammed was going to die. “I felt like our boy was done,” says Nabil. But thanks to his parents’ quick thinking and care, Mohammed made a full recovery.“When he got better, we were relieved; we saw our son well, and everything got better.”

Though, Nabil and Salma’s worries weren’t over. With no dependable supply of clean water, any of their three children could catch a life-threatening disease — and the next time may not end happily.

As well as deadly diseases, the lack of safe water was impacting children’s education. Ensuring their families had enough water; many were forced to drop out of school to join the lengthy queues at the water tankers.

How safe water empowers local communities

UNICEF’s €1.2 million solar-powered water project now provides safe, running water in Nabil’s apartment and to another 137,000 Dhamar residents. What’s more, the project is growing Yemen’s own sustainable skilled workforce, so one day, Nabil’s son Mohammed may grow up to become like Hasan.

Hasan is a 24-year-old engineer who supervises Dhamar’s huge solar-powered water system — ensuring clean water delivery to his community. “UNICEF provided the panels, inverters, control devices and the entire system,” says Hasan.

Hasan sees his work as both a humanitarian service and a highly technical skill. He hopes others in Yemen learn skills like his, so his country isn’t reliant on outside technical assistance. “It allows us to assist directly instead of waiting for other engineers to come from other countries,” explains Hasan. “This project has inspired me to create new solutions to problems.” Sustaining a project like this is always complex, but this is even more true in Yemen, which remains in the grip of ongoing conflict.

Transforming lives with solar power

Yet, despite the difficulty, UNICEF is partnering with Yemeni communities in another 149 solar water projects, reaching 2.5 million people with clean, safe water. These projects connect clean water to schools, health centres — every aspect of community life. Moreover, they also reduce consumption and reliance on fossil fuels. So far, fossil fuel consumption in these water systems has been reduced by up to 63% in urban areas and between 80–100% in rural areas.

The impact of such initiatives is clear: they generate and secure clean water sources for the future. They also stabilise communities by generating sustainable employment and combat the health and economic impact of unsafe and insecure water supplies.

71 years of bringing clean water to children

UNICEF has been committed to providing safe water to children worldwide since 1953. This work has grown from a small handful of pilot projects in rural communities to programmes in 158 countries.

Since 2000, these have brought clean water to around 600 million children, including those in:

• Ethiopia – 59 water systems have been upgraded with solar-powered equipment since 2021. These provide clean water for 1.17 million people including 230,000 refugees.
• Gaza – Safe water supplied to 1.6 million people and 100,000 purification tablets and hygiene kits distributed.
• Jordan – Providing safe water supply in the Za’atari Camp where 80,000 Syrian refugees, including 44,000 children, have lived since the start of the war in Syria 13 years ago.

This work has also contributed significantly to reducing child mortality and enhancing the quality of life for millions of children, as well as giving people — especially women and girls — dignity.

Breaking the cycle of poverty and disease

UNICEF’s commitment to clean water initiatives is a core part of our organisational DNA. We have the world’s largest clean water programme to benefit children. But we need to do more.

Experts tell us that globally, 1 in 4 children will live in areas with high water stress by 2040. This is why gifts in Wills are vital to invest in sustainable water programmes for children and break the cycle of poverty and disease.

For every child, a future.

“If you can save one child’s life — isn’t that a lot?”

Therese Dooley

Retired UNICEF Global Advisor and WASH Specialist

Therese Dooley worked with UNICEF for 29 years.

A career dedicated to changing the lives of children

Starting on the ground in Zimbabwe as a volunteer helping with drought relief, Therese worked in over 60 countries in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and became our Global Advisor and WASH Specialist.

During her time with UNICEF, she was personally involved in the building of wells and digging boreholes. So, she has seen, first-hand, the immense difference these projects make to children. Although Therese is now retired and living back in Carlow where she hails from, her work continues to save and change the lives of children.

She shares an outstanding memory from her work:

“I don’t know that many people get the opportunity to see a drilling rig hit water in a drought-prone area. When that water gets hit and it spurts up into the air, the celebration and the joy in that community — you can’t describe it. It’s just amazing. It’s indescribable to just see that joy.”

Working with the engineers of tomorrow

“What I also often think about is the generation I was involved with during my time with UNICEF. For example, three or four of the young engineers who worked with me in Ethiopia are now leading programmes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia,” remembers Therese. “They’re now the engineers and clean water, sanitation and hygiene professionals of today and tomorrow. It’s wonderful and very rewarding for me to see.”