The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), on Monday, reports that 347
million children in South Asia suffer from water shortage.
The report stated that more than a quarter of all children live in the region, the world’s most populous.
According to UNICEF’s report, 55 per cent of children in South Asia are affected by a lack of water , the highest
rate worldwide.
“Safe water is a basic human right, yet millions of children in South Asia don’t have enough to drink in a
region plagued by floods, droughts and other extreme weather events, triggered increasingly by climate change.”
Sanjay Wijesekera, the UNICEF director responsible for the region said UNICEF is calling on the international
community to take steps to ensure a planet worth living on for children.
Wijesekera made the plea ahead of the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai at the end of the month.
The report said about 594 million children globally still lack basic drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services,
making them particularly vulnerable to water scarcity and climate-exacerbated hazards, shocks and stresses.
Water scarcity affects the well-being and growth of children, creates food insecurity, malnutrition and diarrhoeal
diseases.
Water scarcity also affects agriculture, industry and economic growth. And if farming families are doing badly,
children are more likely to be forced into child labour, the report said.
In 2022, across South Asia, 45 million children lacked access to basic drinking water supplies more than any
other region, according to the report.
However, UNICEF said services were expanding rapidly, and hoped that number would be halved
by 2030.
