Former US president Bill Clinton and UNICEF on Monday announced an initiative to bring safe drinking water and sanitation systems to those affected by the tsunamis that hit the Indian Ocean region.
The Tsunami Water and Sanitation Fund, a joint project of the Clinton Foundation and UNICEF, aims at strengthening UNICEF's efforts to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases in tsunami-ravaged areas.
The partnership is a response to and a part of the nationwide fundraising initiative launched last week by US President George W Bush and former presidents George H W Bush and Clinton in support of relief and reconstruction activities.
"I applaud president Clinton for this extraordinary philanthropic leadership," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said, launching the fund at a press conference with the former president at UNICEF House. "The tsunami has shown us how water can take lives; this initiative will demonstrate how water can save lives."
With water supply systems contaminated and in many cases destroyed by the floodwaters, millions of people lack safe water and are at risk of waterborne diseases like cholera and diarrhoea, Bellamy said.
Children, who make up at least one-third of the overall population in the affected countries, are particularly vulnerable.
"We have identified the provision of clean water and adequate sanitation as both an urgent and long-term need in many of the places struck by the tsunami.
"Clean water is, of course, the source of all life; without it, people cannot survive. And sanitation is essential if we are to avoid the spread of disease in communities made vulnerable by the damage caused by the tidal forces that struck them so suddenly just two weeks ago," Clinton said.
"I appreciate having this opportunity to expand the work of my Foundation with UNICEF, which has a great record of response to humanitarian crises, especially in the provision of care to children."
The foundation also announced that it was accepting donation for the Tsunami Water and Sanitation Fund. It will also finance the construction of emergency latrines and the rehabilitation of urban and rural water supply systems, with a priority for hospitals, health centres and schools, as well as provide equipment to construct basic sanitation facilities.
Once immediate life-threatening humanitarian needs are met, the fund, UNICEF said, will help the affected governments with longer-term management of water supply and sanitation systems.
