As the UK prepares to host the G20 summit in Manchester next year, WaterAid campaigners took their message directly to No10 North today, calling on Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, to listen to women’s demands and take urgent action to ensure that every healthcare facility globally has access to clean water.
Every two seconds around the world a woman gives birth in a healthcare facility without clean water, decent sanitation or good hygiene.
Holding loud ‘ticking’ clocks to symbolise the urgency of the crisis, the campaigners delivered letters urging the Prime Minister to make clean water for maternal health a top priority in discussions with world leaders in 2027, declaring it is ‘Time to Deliver’.
No woman should fear losing her life in childbirth because her healthcare centre does not have clean water. But as WaterAid’s research identified this year, in Sub-Saharan Africa, one in nine births result in maternal sepsis.
Global aid cuts are stalling or even reversing progress in reducing maternal and infant deaths.
Yet simple, affordable essentials like clean water, toilets and handwashing could cut maternal infections and deaths by at least 50%.
Letters in solidarity with women globally were delivered from constituents across the UK, showing the strength of support for immediate action.
Alex Pettifer, 24, lives in central Manchester and works in the charity sector. He said:
The Time to Deliver campaign opened my eyes to how a lack of clean water disproportionately impacts women and how over 16 million women face unsafe births every year because they lack access to this vital resource.
We live in a world with enough resources, wealth and innovation to prevent so much unnecessary suffering. That’s why I’m at No.10 North today to demand real change that will ensure all healthcare facilities globally has access to clean water.
Rachael Delaney, 21, a student at Manchester University and lives in Withington, said:
Access to clean water is a fundamental human right. Time to Deliver shines a light on an often overlooked element of the water crisis; the impact on expectant mothers. Across the world millions of women give birth in healthcare facilities without the basics of clean water and must wash in dirty water after giving birth leaving them and their babies exposed to deadly infections.
Water should be at the top of the international agenda – it is the blue thread that connects us all, through health, education, opportunity, and security and we won’t stop talking about it until it is. That is why I am supporting WaterAid’s Time to Deliver campaign, and I urge everyone to do the same and sign their petition today.
Tim Ingram, Head of UK Advocacy for WaterAid, added:
One million women and newborns die from preventable infections linked to unsafe births every year. But half of all infections from health centres are preventable if services such as clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene are present.
It was inspiring so many campaigners were out today, letting the government know that people here care about the health of mothers, everywhere.
If the UK government is serious about protecting women and girls it needs to prioritise access to clean water – the UK public’s preferred use of aid spend – so that no woman fears for her life in childbirth. It is time for governments to deliver, for every birth, every woman, every future.
This is a defining year for action on the global water crisis with many actors such as the African Union, the World Bank and the United Nations elevating it on their agenda, and clean water for every birth is overdue.
To support safe birth everywhere, WaterAid is calling on the UK Government to prioritise water security, sanitation and hygiene ahead of the UN Water Conference and within the priorities of its G20 Presidency.
You can support by signing our Time To Deliver petition to stand with women calling for change, globally.