William H. Frist: “safe drinking water is one of the biggest health challenges facing the developing world. According to the World Health…”

“safe drinking water is one of the biggest health challenges facing the developing world. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 1.1 billion people around the world lack access to clean water sources and 2.6 billion lack access to basic sanitation. As a result, approximately 1.8 million people die every year from diarrheal disease, and sadly, 90 percent of those deaths occur in children under the age of 5. With an increasing world population and further constraints on our world's water resources, the problem is expected to worsen significantly before it begins to improve. I commend the assistant majority leader, Senator McConnell, the chairman of the foreign operations appropriations subcommittee, for providing $200 million to the U.S. Agency for International Development for safe water programs in his bill. Further, the chairman has allocated not less than $50 million of that amount for programs in Africa, where the need is significant. In addition to Government aid, there is a growing effort in the private, nonprofit sector to address this problem as well. Organizations such as Millennium Water Alliance, Water Missions International, Living Water International, Water for People, The Nature Conservancy, Winrock International, The Aspen Institute, and many others are working to address global water issues.…”