By Rich Bowden:

Asian and Pacific countries are amongst the beneficiaries as Australia’s Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Mr Bob McMullan,  announced earlier in the month his government would provide grants for 44 clean drinking water and sanitation projects throughout the world.

Mr McMullan used a department press release on World Environment Day, June 5, to announce the delivering of grants totaling $31 million throughout regions across Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific. He said the government would work with eleven non-government organizations (NGOs) to deliver the aid, sourced from the government’s Civil Society Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Fund.

“The Australian Government will provide more than $31 million to support non-government organisations (NGOs) to provide toilets, clean water and promote handwashing with soap in developing countries,” said Mr McMullan in the statement.

He added the assistance would help developing countries achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aims on sanitation and drinking and would improve children’s life expectancy.

“Improving hygiene behaviour and access to clean water and sanitation services is crucial to raising the health and living standards of people living in developing countries,” said Mr McMullan.

“About 60 per cent of people in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific do not have access to a toilet. More than 600 million people in these regions do not have daily access to clean drinking water.”

“In these regions 1.2 million children die every year from diarrhoea. Worldwide 88 per cent of deaths from diarrhoea are directly attributable to a lack of access to clean water or adequate sanitation and hygiene,” he added.

Mr McMullan said the NGO that had been selected to receive the funds were; the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, Australian Red Cross, CARE Australia, East Meets West Foundation, Live and Learn Environmental Education, Oxfam Australia, Plan Australia, SNV Netherlands, Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor, WaterAid Australia, and World Vision Australia.

He added the countries for which the aid is targeted were Bhutan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Timor, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tanzania, Uganda, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Tags: australia development, australia water aid, bob mcmullan, mdg