Every day, 5,000 children under five die from easily prevented diarrheal diseases. Millions more children miss school and millions of adults are kept out of productive work. The cause: 40% of the worlds population lack safe water or sanitation. The vast majority of those affected live on less than $2 a day. They are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and disease, that they have little hope of escaping unless the silent crisis in water and sanitation is addressed.
But strong and effective leadership from the next President of the United States can improve the lives of people living in extreme poverty and make progress on global health, the environment, and human rights. Addressing the world's water and sanitation crisis means improvement in all these areas.
Urge the next President to make safe water and sanitation for the world's poor a top priority and promise to direct U.S. foreign assistance to the poor countries that need it, not just to its allies. Sign the petition today!
Dear [Presidential Candidate]:
Safe water and sanitation are basic human rights, yet billions of people suffer each day without them. Diseases caused by unsafe water and inadequate sanitation kill nearly 5,000 children under age 5 every day, lead to the waste of billions of hours fetching water�mostly by women and children�and keep millions of people from working or attending school.
The U.S. can help solve this global crisis by directing its foreign assistance to safe water and sanitation initiatives in countries where it is needed the most. Only by recognizing and redressing this fundamental problem can efforts to prevent or cure disease and help lift people out of poverty be successful.
[Your Comment]
I urge you to make clean water and sanitation for the world�s poor a priority as President of the United States.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
