Clean Water, Sanitation, and the Millennium Development Goals

Excerpt

In nineteenth century London, four large cholera outbreaks killed some 37,000 people. Completion of the capital’s sewer system contributed significantly to later reductions in gastrointestinal infections and increased life expectancy. This achievement was a team effort, but one driving force was the physician John Snow, the 150th anniversary of whose death was marked by a small ceremony on June 16, 2008, in a London public house close to the site of Dr. Snow’s main study of cholera transmission. Despite the venue, the celebratory libation was with water, not just out of respect for Snow’s abhorrence of alcohol but also because one of the occasion’s cosponsors was the international charity WaterAid. Water remains a key factor in disease worldwide. …