PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

UN hits water target, but 1.8 billion people still drinking unsafe water, study shows

2012-03-26
(Press-News.org) Recent widespread news coverage heralded the success of a United Nations' goal of greatly improving access to safe drinking water around the world.

But while major progress has been made, a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill indicates that far greater challenges persist than headline statistics suggested.

Earlier this month (March 6), UNICEF and the World Health Organization issued a report stating that the world had met the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goal target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water, well in advance of a deadline.

That goal aimed to boost access to improved drinking water sources, such as piped supplies and protected wells, between 1990 and 2015.

However, the new UNC study estimates that 1.8 billion people – 28 percent of the world's population – used unsafe water in 2010.

That figure is 1 billion more than the official report's estimate that 783 million people (11 percent of the globe) use water from what are classified as unimproved sources by WHO and UNICEF's Joint Monitoring Program.

The new study's lead author, Jamie Bartram, Ph.D., professor of environmental sciences and engineering in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, said the WHO/UNICEF report highlighted the progress that could be achieved through concerted international action, but left outstanding the needs of millions of people who only have access to dangerous contaminated drinking water.

"If you look at the water people use and ask 'Is this contaminated?' instead of 'Is this water from a protected source?', the world would still be well short of meeting the Millennium Development Goal target," said Bartram, also director of the Water Institute at UNC.

"In many parts of the world, water from 'improved sources' – like protected village wells and springs – is likely to be microbiologically or chemically contaminated, either at the source or by the time people drink it," he said. "In developing countries, whether you live in small village or a big city, safe water can be hard to come by: pipes and taps break, clean springs and wells become contaminated or people have to carry or store water in potentially unsanitary ways."

The study, "Global Access to Safe Water: Accounting for Water Quality and the Resulting Impact on MDG Progress," was published March 14, 2012, in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Bartram and colleagues analyzed water quality and sanitary risk information from an earlier study of five countries, and extrapolated the data to estimate global figures. Their study suggested that of the 5.8 billion people using piped or "other improved" water sources in 2010, 1 billion probably received faecally contaminated water. Adding that tally to the nearly 800 million people who collect water from unimproved sources would mean 1.8 billion people are drinking unsafe water.

Furthermore, Bartram and colleagues estimated that another 1.2 billion people got water from sources that lack basic sanitary protection against contamination.

"All told, we estimate 3 billion people don't have access to safe water, if you use a more stringent definition that includes both actual water quality and sanitary risks," Bartram said.

He highlighted that the recent WHO/UNICEF announcement confirmed how much had been achieved since the Millennium Development Goals were adopted in 2000, and that this progress should lead to a progressive shift towards ensuring that every home, workplace and school has reliable water supplies that are – and remain – safe.

However, he said the magnitude of the UNC study's estimates and the health and development implications suggest that greater attention needs to be paid to better understanding and managing drinking water safety.

### The study's co-authors were Kyle Onda and Joe LoBuglio, graduate research assistant and research manager, respectively, at the UNC Water Institute.

Media note: Bartram can be reached at (919) 966-3934 or jbartram@unc.edu.

Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Chris Perry, (919) 966-4555, chris.perry@unc.edu END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Mountaintop blasting to mine the sky with the Giant Magellan Telescope

2012-03-26
Pasadena, CA--Astronomers have begun to blast 3 million cubic feet of rock from a mountaintop in the Chilean Andes to make room for what will be the world's largest telescope when completed near the end of the decade. The telescope will be located at the Carnegie Institution's Las Campanas Observatory—one of the world's premier astronomical sites, known for its pristine conditions and clear, dark skies. Over the next few months, more than 70 controlled blasts will break up the rock while leaving a solid bedrock foundation for the telescope and its precision scientific instruments. The ...

Learning best when you rest: Sleeping after processing new info most effective, new study shows

2012-03-26
Nodding off in class may not be such a bad idea after all. New research from the University of Notre Dame shows that going to sleep shortly after learning new material is most beneficial for recall, Titled "Memory for Semantically Related and Unrelated Declarative Information: The Benefit of Sleep, the Cost of Wake," the study was published March 22 in PLOS One. Notre Dame Psychologist Jessica Payne and colleagues studied 207 students who habitually slept for at least six hours per night. Participants were randomly assigned to study declarative, semantically ...

Researchers discover why humans began walking upright

2012-03-26
WASHINGTON—Most of us walk and carry items in our hands every day. These are seemingly simple activities that the majority of us don't question. But an international team of researchers, including Brian Richmond at the George Washington University, have discovered that human bipedalism, or walking upright, may have originated millions of years ago as an adaptation to carrying scarce, high-quality resources. This latest research was published in this month's "Current Biology." The team of researchers from the U.S., England, Japan and Portugal investigated the behavior ...

Researchers develop new technique to assess diversity of plant species from afar

Researchers develop new technique to assess diversity of plant species from afar
2012-03-26
EAST LANSING, Mich. --- By analyzing vegetation information collected by satellites over time instead of for just one day, scientists in the Michigan State University Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability (CSIS) have developed a novel procedure to assess the composition of plant species in an area. Researchers long have used multi-spectral images (which include radiation outside human perception, such as infrared) and other remotely sensed data to create maps of vegetation around the globe. But seasonal changes in vegetation can limit the usefulness of these ...

Embryonic stem cells shift metabolism in cancer-like way upon implanting in uterus

Embryonic stem cells shift metabolism in cancer-like way upon implanting in uterus
2012-03-26
Shortly after a mouse embryo starts to form, some of its stem cells undergo a dramatic metabolic shift to enter the next stage of development, Seattle researchers report today. These stem cells start using and producing energy like cancer cells. This discovery is published today in EMBO, the European Molecular Biology Organization journal. "These findings not only have implications for stem cell research and the study of how embryos grow and take shape, but also for cancer therapy," said the senior author of the study, Dr. Hannele Ruohola-Baker, University of Washington ...

A shiny new tool for imaging biomolecules

A shiny new tool for imaging biomolecules
2012-03-26
At the heart of the immune system that protects our bodies from disease and foreign invaders is a vast and complex communications network involving millions of cells, sending and receiving chemical signals that can mean life or death. At the heart of this vast cellular signaling network are interactions between billions of proteins and other biomolecules. These interactions, in turn, are greatly influenced by the spatial patterning of signaling and receptor molecules. The ability to observe signaling spatial patterns in the immune and other cellular systems as they evolve, ...

Stroke Progress Review Group sets priorities for future NIH stroke rehabilitation research

2012-03-26
West Orange, NJ. March 23, 2012. In 2011, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) convened the Stroke Progress Review Group (SPRG) to conduct a final 10-year review of the state of stroke research. The goal is to set priorities and shape future NINDS programs and policies. While SPRG found much available data for maximizing stroke rehabilitation outcomes, translation to clinical practice is inadequate. To realize the enormous potential for improving rehabilitation and recovery, more resources should be applied to implementing and directly supporting ...

Moffitt Cancer Center researchers link stigma to depression among lung cancer patients

2012-03-26
TAMPA, Fla. (March 23, 2012) – Studying the role of social stigma in depression for lung cancer patients, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., have found that depression can be heightened by a lung cancer patient's sense of social rejection, internalized shame and social isolation. These factors may contribute to depression at rates higher than experienced by patients with other kinds of cancer. Their study was published in a recent issue of Psycho-Oncology (21:2012). "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship ...

American Chemical Society Presidential Sessions focus on outreach, chemistry innovations

2012-03-26
SAN DIEGO, March 23, 2012 — More than a dozen symposia and other events at the American Chemical Society (ACS) 243rd National Meeting & Exposition are being sponsored or recommended by noted science communicator and ACS President Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, Ph.D. They range from a science outreach event for children at PETCO Park to news from an emerging field of chemistry that promises to produce medicines inside patients' bodies, as well as a symposium on communicating science to the public. Communicating science is a major part of Shakhashiri's presidential theme for the ...

Complications in patients undergoing PCI tend to occur within first 30 days

2012-03-26
BOSTON, MA—Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), also known as coronary angioplasty or angioplasty, is a procedure used to treat acute coronary syndromes. PCI involves opening a blocked blood vessel by threading and inflating a balloon-tipped tube into the vessel. Sometimes a stent is also inserted to keep the blood vessel open. While undergoing PCI treatment, doctors usually give patients medicine to prevent complications that may occur from the procedure. In a new study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), types and timing of cardiovascular ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative

Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine

Mission accomplished for the “T2T” Hong Kong Bauhinia Genome Project

[Press-News.org] UN hits water target, but 1.8 billion people still drinking unsafe water, study shows