The crucial link between HIV and access to safe water and sanitation

On World Water Day 2008 Action Against Hunger is releasing a report that claims insufficient quantity and quality of water is exacerbating the impact of the global HIV pandemic.  Calling on the international community, Action Against Hunger says governments and other humanitarian professionals must work more closely with people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in order to develop water and sanitation systems that appropriately meet the water needs of the growing number of people living with the disease.

The latest report from Action Against Hunger, HIV and Water: Working for Positive Solutions, draws a striking relationship between access to good quality water and the worsening impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Access to clean water and adequate sanitation is not only vital to protect HIV sufferers and their families from the spread of water-related disease but is also essential for effective treatment and recovery from HIV related illness.

“It is paramount that HIV be mainstreamed into all projects within the water and sanitation sector,” comments Jennifer Organ, author of the report. ‘Projects must be adapted to cater for the needs of those affected. The water and sanitation sector offers a valuable doorway into understanding and assisting community practices and ensuring that simple, essential every day activities, such as water collection  become less of a burden for the most vulnerable households.’

Many infections that lead to sickness, diarrhoea and ultimately malnutrition stem from poor sanitation reduced access to good quality drinking water and low awareness of hygiene practices or reduced capacity to implement such practices. For people living with HIV/AIDS the risk of water related illness increases.  This risk is related to the weakened status of the immune system among HIV-positive people, which means that poor water, sanitation and hygiene can lead more quickly to serious illness.  

‘Like food, and perhaps more so, water is a human necessity’, comments Jennifer Organ, author of the report.  ‘If water is not sufficient in quantity or quality to meet the needs of each individual, life itself can be threatened.’

The launch of the report will take place on Wednesday 19th March 2008, 5:30pm to 7:30pm at King’s College London, with panellists including Jennifer Organ, Author of the Report, and Dr Farhana Sultana, Lecturer in Human Geography, Kings College. 

For more information or  a copy of the report, please contact Christine Kahmann on

020 8293 6197

Venue: Edmond J. Safra Lecture Theatre, King’s College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS.

                                                    -ENDS-

Notes to editors:

• Press contacts:

Christine Kahmann: 0208 293 6196 / 078 0693 4524 / c.kahmann@aahuk.org

Sophie Noonan: 0208 293 6190 / s.noonan@aahuk.org   

• 1.1 billion people in the world still do not have access to clean water
• 2.6 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation.
• Action Against Hunger is an international humanitarian organisation, working in 43 of the world’s poorest countries. Its vocation is to save lives, especially those of malnourished children, and to work with vulnerable populations to preserve and restore their livelihoods with dignity.

For a copy of the report, please click here.

For testimonies from Zambia, please click here.