WORLD WATER DAY 2013

That this House welcomes World Water Day, the official United Nations day for raising awareness of water quality and water management worldwide, on 22 March 2013; recognises the importance of this year's World Water Day theme: water cooperation; acknowledges the role that access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) plays in combating diarrhoeal disease, the most common cause of childhood illness and the second-leading killer of children worldwide; further recognises that diarrhoeal disease is directly responsible for the deaths of around 1,800 children every day, with 80 per cent of deaths occurring in Asia and Africa where access to water, sanitation and urgent medical care can be limited; supports the Government's commitment made in April 2012 to double the number of people to be reached with WASH by 2015; supports the work of organisations like PATH, WaterAid and Tearfund, who are promoting integrated solutions to the prevention and treatment of diarrhoeal disease, which combine WASH with delivery of effective vaccines and medication; further welcomes the role of the Prime Minister as co-Chair of the UN High-Level Panel on Post-2015 Development and urges him to recognise the need for strengthening interventions through integration and setting ambitious targets for achieving universal access to WASH by 2030; and calls on the Government to follow closely the forthcoming World Health Organisation guidance on pneumonia and diarrhoeal disease to be published in April 2013.