Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images
United Nations announced today that the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) has been met 5 years ahead of schedule. The proportion of people without access to safe drinking water has now been cut in half since the end of 2010 (89% - 1% more than the goal set by world leaders), leaving only 11% of the world's population still stripped of their basic right of access to a safe water source. UNICEF and WHO both deem this victory undeclared. Millions of people from these poverty stricken nations are still in desperate need of access to water and basic sanitation, and are in great need of our attention. Sure, this marks a special day in history, but the fight to eradicate global poverty is far from being over. The water target is one of eight MDGs created to improve hundreds upon millions of lives living in extreme poverty.
World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan states that "providing sustainable access to improved drinking water sources is one of the most important things we can do to reduce disease. But this achievement today is only the beginning. We must continue to ensure this access remains safe. Otherwise our gains will be in vain."
-Georisa Chang
SOURCE: The Washington Post
