The Global Sanitation Fund: It’s time for Canada to act

“Are we to decide the importance of issues by asking how fashionable or glamorous they are? Or by asking how seriously they affect how many?”
-Nelson Mandela

Around the world, 2.6 billion people – 42 per cent of the global population – lack access to basic sanitation. This means no toilets, no latrines, no separation of human waste from daily life.

Each year, millions of people – the majority of whom are children - die from preventable diseases caused by poor sanitation and dirty water. Healthcare costs soar, countless school and working days are lost, and communities around the globe sink deeper into poverty and despair.

It may not be glamourous, but you cannot fight global poverty without first addressing sanitation.

In order to bring attention to this critical issue, WaterCan has teamed up with Results Canada to urge the Canadian government to support the new Global Sanitation Fund (GSF), a groundbreaking initiative poised to help millions of people gain access to safe and sustainable sanitation facilities.

The Global Sanitation Fund, which is expected to be launched in early 2008, is open to contributions from governments, businesses, foundations and individuals. As a centralized, single-pooled fund, the GSF will not only facilitate international cooperation in ending the sanitation crisis, but will help ensure that funds and resources reach the people who need them most.

Sanitation for all can and should be achieved. The time to act is now.

• Read WaterCan and Results Canada’s letter to Senators and Members of Parliament here, calling for Canada to support the new Global Sanitation Fund.
  
  
• Want to learn more about the Global Sanitation Fund? Visit the United Nations’ Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSC) website at www.wsscc.org
  
  
• Voice your support for the Global Sanitation Fund – write your MP today!