DYING FOR THE TOILET

"Five thousand children die every day globally because they do not have access to clean toilets, health experts said on Tuesday. Wealthy governments and donors could make a huge impact on global health by making sanitation a priority, representatives from a coalition of 60 health groups said. They estimated that 40 percent of the world's people do not have access to clean and safe toilets."It is about generating political will, and we also want to see is a real mobilization around sanitation in the aid system," said Henry Northover of Water Aid, which founded the coalition End Water Poverty. "We want to see the G8 (group of industrialized nations) prioritize it this year." This would also go a long way toward meeting global targets aimed at sharply reducing world poverty by 2015, the experts said. Water Aid says 1.8 million children are dying each year before their fifth birthday from diarrhoea." (Yahoo News, 15 January) We've said it before, we will say it again - capitalism is a shitty society. RD