- guardian.co.uk, Saturday November 30 2002 11.29 GMT
A child dies every 15 seconds from a disease caused by lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.
Around 4 million people die every year from water-related diseases. Medical estimates reckon that diarrhoea will claim 92 million lives by 2025.
A billion people lack a basic water supply and the UN this week added the unfettered access to clean water to its international covenant of economic, social and cultural rights.
WaterAid, the UK's only charity dedicated exclusively to the provision of safe domestic water to the world's poorest people, is one of the organisations to be promoted by us in this year's Christmas appeal.
At home, the risk of young people ending up homeless or unemployed is not a lottery. The odds are stacked against those with multiple disadvantages.
Fairbridge, our second charity, aims to give innercity youth a chance to succeed. It has 170 staff across the UK. They work in 43 of the 88 wards that make up the country's most deprived areas. Their job is to find those 13-25 year olds most at risk - those who have given up on education or training or employment. These youngsters often hide low self-esteem with aggression, drugs, alcohol, or involvement in crime.
At Fairbridge, thousands of marginalised young people have overcome the odds against them and have developed the personal and social skills needed to improve their own lives. We can help them do more.
Over the next five weeks our reporters in India and Africa will tell the story of the work being done to overcome the scourge of dirty water. And across the UK we will take you into the inner cities where young people are struggling to regain control of their own lives.
These stories will appear in the Guardian, the Observer, Guardian Unlimited, and Guardian Weekly.
Today, we introduce you to WaterAid and Fairbridge, and report on how the £567,804 you donated last year has improved the work of Refugee Action and ActionAid.
