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WASH Media Awards

The WASH Media Awards initiative is designed to promote awareness about water supply, sanitation and hygiene issues through investigative journalism in print and broadcast media, and is expected to attract a pool of talent from all over the developing world. Link>>

IYS Press Kit

International Year of Sanitation 2008 UNICEF Media kit Link>>

Broadcast Resources

UNDP Human Development Report 2006: Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis - broacast quality video and graphics Link>>

Press Releases

Press Release: UN launches IYS to address global crisis (Nov 2007) [pdf] Press Release: Global Sanitation Crisis (Unicef May 2007) Link>> Press Release: General Assembly declares IYS (Dec 2006) [pdf]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media Centre

UN Sanitation News

Lack of political will biggest obstacle to improving sanitation – Secretary-General
22 March – A lack of political will remains the greatest obstacle to efforts to drastically reduce the number of people without access to basic sanitation and clean, running water, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, calling on the international community to take firmer and faster steps to tackle the problem. FULL STORY>>

Unclean water threatens health of one million Central Africans, UN warns
20 March – Up to one million Central Africans do not have access to clean water and therefore are highly vulnerable to threat of deadly waterborne diseases because of the conflict threatening their country, United Nations relief agencies reported today. FULL STORY>>

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Message on World Water Day 2008
March 2008 – Secretary-General, in message for World Water Day, calls lack of political will biggest culprit in failure to achieve basic sanitation goal. [EN] [FR] [AR] [CH] [ES] [RU]

Bringing the issue out of the closet, adolescent girls launch a Guidance booklet on Menstrual Hygiene Management
8 March – In a function marking the International Women’s Day and the International Year of Sanitation, young adolescent girls and women released the Guidance booklet developed by UNICEF on Menstrual Hygiene Management and a short film on the same in New Delhi today. FULL STORY>>

IYS Launch in Pakistan
4 March – The Federal Minister for Environment, Govt. of Pakistan, Syed Wajid Hussain Bukhari formally launched the International Year of Sanitation 2008 here on Tuesday, March 4, 2008. FULL STORY>>

Ban Ki-Moon warns that water shortages are increasingly driving conflicts
6 February – Many of today’s conflicts around the world are being fuelled or exacerbated by water shortages and climate change is only making the situation worse, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the General Assembly today. FULL STORY>>

UN refugee agency cautious about returns to Iraq
23 November – Responding to recent public reports about refugees returning to Iraq in limited numbers, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today cautioned against an organized effort to send civilians back to the war-ravaged country. FULL STORY>>

UN launches International Year to draw attention to global sanitation crisis
21 November – The United Nations today kicked off the International Year of Sanitation in a bid to accelerate progress for the 2.6 billion people around the world who do not enjoy the basic right to proper sanitation facilities. FULL STORY>>

UN grants $8.8 million to aid cyclone victims in Bangladesh
20 November – The United Nations has allocated $8.8 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support relief efforts in the wake of the deadly cyclone which struck Bangladesh last week, affecting more than 3 million people in the South Asian nation. FULL STORY>>

Fresh skirmishes force thousands of displaced Congolese to flee North Kivu – UN
13 November – The United Nations refugee agency is concerned about tens of thousands of Congolese civilians who, having already been displaced due to recent clashes between Government forces and renegade troops in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have had to flee anew as gun battles erupted today between the two groups. FULL STORY>>

DR Congo: UN agency steps up efforts to curb spread of cholera in North Kivu
09 November – The United Nations refugee agency is intensifying its efforts to combat the spread of cholera in the troubled North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a spokesman for the agency said today. FULL STORY>>

Low-Cost Technologies could ensure Sanitation for all, says Senior UN Official
31 October – With more than 2.6 billion people – 40 per cent of the world’s population – lacking access to toilets and other sanitation facilities, the head of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme has urged governments to adopt low-cost technology to ensure adequate sanitation for all. FULL STORY>>

UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, urges greater efforts to tackle 'Silen Crisis' of Safe Water for all
24 October – Unveiling a new exhibit at United Nations Headquarters highlighting one of the earth’s most precious resources, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for greater efforts to ensure the most basic of human needs – safe water. FULL STORY>>

UN opens office in Spain to support the International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’ 2005-2015
5 October – A United Nations office to support the International Decade for Action “Water for Life” 2005-2015 opened in Zaragoza, Spain, on 5 October 2007. The office will be managed by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and will facilitate the coordinated implementation of UN-Water’s work on water and sanitation, especially in the areas of communication and advocacy to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities to solve global water and sanitation issues. FULL STORY>>

Cholera continues to spread in Iraq, UN health agency reports
4 October – Cholera is continuing to spread across Iraq and dissemination to as yet unaffected areas remains highly possible, with more than 30,000 people having already fallen ill with acute watery diarrhoea, according to the latest update by the United Nations health agency. FULL STORY>>

UN continues to provide support for flood-ravaged Ugandans
3 October – The United Nations is continuing to deliver aid to the hundreds of thousands of Ugandans suffering from the worst flooding the Central African nation has seen in decades. FULL STORY>>

Flood victims in Sudan mount by 100,000 to well over half million, UN reports
24 September – With the number of flood victims in Sudan rising by at least another 100,000 to well over half a million, United Nations agencies and their partners are putting contingency measures into effect to respond to the emergency despite a $19 million funding shortfall. FULL STORY>>

Iraqi cholera outbreak widens to include first case in Baghdad – UN health agency
21 September – The cholera outbreak in northern Iraq has spread south to the capital Baghdad and more than 1,500 cases have now been confirmed across the country, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported today. FULL STORY>>

UN-backed $41 million emergency appeal launched for flood-ravaged Ugandans
21 September – A United Nations-backed flash appeal was launched today for $41 million to provide urgently-needed assistance some 300,000 flood-beleaguered Ugandans, including more than 100,000 already vulnerable internally displaced persons (IDPs). FULL STORY>>

Cholera outbreak in northern Iraq remains major health threat, UN reports
19 September – The cholera outbreak in northern Iraq continues to be a major threat to public health in the region with over 3.3 million people presumed to be exposed to the risk of an epidemic, according to an update by the United Nations health agency. FULL STORY>>

Relief effort steps up in northern Ghana after floods strike region, says UN
18 September – United Nations emergency staff today set up a humanitarian coordination centre in northern Ghana to help with relief efforts in the wake of floods that have killed at least 20 people, destroyed numerous roads, bridges and schools, and inundated vital cropland. FULL STORY>>

UN food aid reaches tens of thousands of Ethiopian flood victims
14 September – Distribution of food for more than 60,000 Ethiopian flood victims has started amid some overcrowding in temporary shelters and the threat of an outbreak of water-borne diseases, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reported today. FULL STORY>>

Number of cholera cases in northern Iraq doubles, but death toll remains static – UN
14 September – The number of people struck by a cholera outbreak in Northern Iraq has doubled to 16,000 people but the death toll remains the same at 10, the United Nations health agency reported today. FULL STORY>>

UN to launch $17-million appeal to feed 100,000 Nicaraguan hurricane victims
13 September – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today that it plans to launch a $17-million emergency appeal for 100,000 hurricane victims in Nicaragua, as rescue crews reported that they were stunned by the intensity of the destruction wrought along the impoverished country’s northern coast. FULL STORY>>