Speech by His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange on the occasion of receiving the J.W. Starkey Silver Medal from The Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, London, 30th June 2003
Your Royal Highness, Excellencies, esteemed Members of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all, thank you very much for this prestigious medal.
Frankly, when I first heard about the award I was a little surprised to learn that the world public health would be honouring my work. After all, my report "No Water, No Future" concentrates on the water sector and the major challenges it faces. Some of these are Integrated Water Resources Management, the role of the private sector and the need for more agricultural research so that we can achieve more crop per drop.
So this award was an unexpected surprise for me but, let me assure you, it was a very pleasant surprise. It shows that the world public health world recognises how crucial water is to the well-being of humanity and how central it is to poverty alleviation. We in the water world certainly recognise the impact of this battle on health.
"No Water, No Future" was based on a proposal agreed on by my colleagues on the Panel of Eminent Persons nominated by the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. My task was to produce a report on water, focusing on shared values, the public/private sector nexus, global governance and, finally, science and technology.
So it should be clear that the relationship between water and health was not the focus of the report. But health is a cross-cutting issue, which looms large in the water sector. Inevitably, the report addressed the health impact of water scarcity and poor water quality.
The first and most straightforward link between water and health is the need for safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Poor sanitation can contaminate both ground and surface water supplies and it is a main source of waterborne diseases like cholera, typhoid and hepatitis A. Diarrhoea alone kills 2.2 million young children in the developing world every year. Many others suffer from adverse effects of diarrhoea, like poor nutrition, stunted mental and physical growth, greater vulnerability to other deadly diseases and inability to attend school.
Given these sobering facts, you can appreciate how pleased I am that the world summit in Johannesburg agreed on a new target for sanitation.
My report also refers to some other links between water and health. One is the issue of water quality and the sustainable management of ecosystems. Biodiversity is not the only issue here. Above all, sustainable management of ecosystems is important for the poor, because they rely so heavily on these systems for their livelihoods. Surely, the crucial role of water in food security, and hence good nutrition, is a key health issue!
Another important link is the use of waste water for irrigation. This practice is common around urban areas in Africa and Asia. Internationally, there is a growing awareness of pollution caused by the disposal of untreated industrial waste water, agricultural runoff and toxic substances such as heavy metals and pesticides. We should continue working together to bring about adequate waste water management. We must rise to the challenges ahead of us. This includes not only research into the impact of pollution on health but also effective advocacy aimed at putting research results into action. The challenge of introducing ecological sanitation -such as dry toilets for example - is also tremendous.
When receiving a prize, of course, it's important to thank all the people whose help you relied on. I would like to list everyone who contributed to "No Water, No Future". But that would take too much your time, since I tried to involve as large a group as possible in the preparation of the report. A preliminary draft of the report was posted on the web and I received over five thousand comments from all kinds of people. Furthermore, the report was officially endorsed by the Global Water Partnership, as well as two hundred African stakeholders who discussed it at a conference in Accra, Ghana, organised by the African Water Taskforce in March 2002.
However, there are two people whom I would like to thank personally on this festive occasion. The first is Frank Rijsberman, the Director General of IWMI in Sri Lanka, the organisation that managed the website for the report (and provided links to many relevant organisations). The second is Bert Diphoorn, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, who was instrumental in organising the meetings where the report was discussed.
Your Royal Highness, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very grateful that your organisation values my work. The motto of the second World Water Forum was "Water is everybody's business" and that is definitely true in the public health world represented here today.
Thank you.