November 7, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – The Dutch government has extended a grant assistance of 23.5 million US dollar to UNICEF in Sudan to provide safe water and improved sanitation for hundreds of thousands of people across the country.

About 60,000 children under the age of five die every year in Sudan from diarrhoea; a preventable illness caused in large part by unsafe water and poor sanitation. This donation aims to provide safe drinking water, sanitary latrines and fund public campaigns targeting hygiene behaviour.

The Dutch Ambassador in Khartoum, Norbert Braakhuis, and UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director Hilde Johnson, who is currently visiting Sudan, signed the donation agreement. It provides to use the half of this grant for projects in Blue Nile State, South Kordofan and Abyei over the next four years. In southern Sudan the UNICEF will implement projects with other half of Dutch donation, in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Eastern Equatoria and Jonglei.

Ambassador Norbert Braakhuis said he hoped that providing equal access to resources like water, which had often been the source of conflict in Sudan, would help to promote a sustainable peace between different communities.

UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director, Hilde Johnson, said: "This very generous contribution by the Dutch Government will have a real impact on saving lives."

"Not only will this funding help to reduce the number of children who die each year, it will also help improve the lives of women and girls who often travel many kilometres to collect water for their families.”

(ST)