No more hanging about! Ask David Cameron to take action to stop people dying for the toilet

WaterAid is asking the new coalition government to tackle the global sanitation and water crisis during its first 100 days. Sign the petition now

WaterAid has launched a petition calling on the new coalition government to tackle the global sanitation and water crisis during its first 100 days in power.

Urgent action is needed from the new government as, in just over 100 days, world leaders including David Cameron will come together in New York for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Summit - a critical meeting on global poverty.

Leaders at the meeting will review progress and determine how to meet the goals, which were international targets created in 2000 to halve world poverty by 2015.

As part of the MDGs UN member states committed to halving the proportion of people without sanitation by 2015. However, the world is currently 30 years off its global target and a shocking 200 years off target in sub-Saharan Africa.

Currently 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation and 884 million do not have access to safe water. The resulting diarrhoeal diseases kill 4,000 children a day. This is a global crisis that left untackled will continue to undermine all development efforts.

Rhian Lewis, Campaigns Officer, said: "It is vital that we create a strong united voice to encourage Prime Minister David Cameron, in his first 100 days, to prioritise this crisis and increase UK aid for sanitation, water and hygiene across the developing world.

"Overcoming poverty starts with giving people access to toilets. For every £1 governments invest in sanitation and water, an £8 economic return is generated thanks to lower death rates, fewer healthcare costs and increased productivity as more people are able to get an education and earn a living.

"We have a crucial window of opportunity to demand action from our Government – but we need to act now."

3 things you can do to support the 100 days campaign:

• Sign the petition now
• Share the petition on your Facebook page. Update your status to "We've only got 100 days to help stop people dying for the toilet, sign WaterAid's petition now: www.wateraid.org/first100"
• Tweet about the petition on Twitter. Tweet: "We've only got 100 days to help stop people dying for the toilet, sign WaterAid's petition now: www.wateraid.org/first100"

What is WaterAid asking for?We have set out concrete actions for the new Government to take towards tackling the sanitation and water crisis in their first 100 days and in preparation for the critical MDG meeting.

WaterAid is calling on the new UK government to:

• Make sanitation, water and hygiene an urgent priority for UK development policy and aid
• Make sanitation, water and hygiene a central part of achieving all the Millennium Development Goals by 2015
• Find urgent solutions to reduce the impact of climate change on poor communities' access to sanitation and water
  Read more about WaterAid's calls for action ( PDF 36Kb)

Media enquiries
For media enquiries about WaterAid's first 100 days campaign, please contact Ann Noon, Media Relations Manager, on 0207 793 4790.