How Water Cures Hunger

In December 1992, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 22 to be an annual World Day for Water. The purpose was to promote conservation and development of water resources.

At Action Against Hunger, we observe the day because our mission—solving the challenge of hunger around the world—depends on water. We can’t vanquish hunger without dependable sources of clean water. Here’s why:

Experts disagree about how much water we need to drink each day. And the amount can vary depending on how much we exercise, how hot the climate is, and so on. Nonetheless, whether the ideal amount is as little as one liter or as many as three (the range of expert opinions), the reasons why we need to drink are clear:

Virtually all bodily functions, especially digestion and metabolism, require water.

• Water helps us maintain our body temperatures.
• Water prevents headache and fatigue—symptoms of dehydration—and extreme dehydration can kill, say, a child locked in a car sitting in hot sunshine or an athlete exercising for a prolonged period on a hot day.
• And some physicians believe that adequate intake of water reduces the risk of bladder, colon, and kidney cancers.
• Our 30-day regimen that restores malnourished patients to robust health depends on F75 and F100 milk formulas that we typically prepare using powder and clean water.

In short, water is an essential component of proper nutrition, keeping us healthy, active, and productive.

Water is essential for washing, and washing prevents disease. According to a 2003 article in the scientific journal, The Lancet: “[W]ashing hands with soap can reduce the risk of diarrheal diseases by 42–47% and interventions to promote handwashing might save a million lives [a year].”

Diarrhea is typically caused by a variety of viruses, bacteria, and protozoans that thrive in contaminated water but that can usually be avoided by washing with soap and clean water. Diarrhea causes a loss of water and electrolytes, which can lead to dehydration and sometimes death. In fact, according to Unicef estimates, approximately 4 billion cases of diarrhea a year cause 1.8 million deaths, more than 90% of them (1.6 million) among children younger than five. And when children suffer repeated bouts of diarrhea, they become increasingly vulnerable to other diseases and malnutrition.

Entire communities can become ill if hygiene is neglected. Cholera and typhoid fever, for example, frequently attack communities that drink and wash with contaminated water, which can also spread hepatitis A and E, meningitis, polio, and shigella. And these diseases, of course, complicate and worsen malnutrition.

Inadequate water supplies can destroy farm crops and animals—the basic source of nutrition for most of the world. In one recent three-year period, drought caused 60% of the world's food emergencies.

In fact, only 17% of farmland worldwide is irrigated, yet irrigated farmland produces 40% of the world's food supply. Introducing irrigation typically increases crop yields by 100% to 400%. Moreover, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the highest yields that can be obtained from irrigation are more than double the highest yields that can be obtained from naturally rain-fed agriculture.

For all these reasons, during emergencies Action Against Hunger hauls water into affected communities. We also decontaminate wells and boreholes (deeper than wells) and dig new ones to tap aquifers. In addition, we pipe water from clean springs and other natural sources into villages and farms, and we build latrines and bathhouses to keep communities hygienic.

In our campaign to vanquish hunger, clean water is as essential as food.