On World Water Day, UNICEF warns: 2,8 million children lack adequate access to water in Brazil.

Luciano Nascimento - Reporter for Agência Brasil

On World Water Day, celebrated this Saturday (22), the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) warns that 2,8 million children live without adequate access to water in Brazil, especially in rural areas. The data comes from the study Multidimensional Poverty in Childhood and Adolescence in Brazil, published in January and refers to the period from 2019 to 2023.

The survey was based on the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD Contínua). Although the number of children and adolescents without access to water decreased by 31,5% during the period, approximately 1,5 million in the country still live in more extreme situations, residing in homes without piped water.

According to UNICEF, 1,2 million people have access to piped water only on their property or in the outdoor area of ​​their residence.

In urban areas, approximately 2,4% of Brazilian children and adolescents suffer from a lack of adequate access to water. In rural areas, this number rises to 21,2%.

According to the study, Acre is the state in the most extreme situation, where 12,7% of children and adolescents live in places without access to piped water. Next is Paraíba, where 12,2% live in the same situation; Amazonas, which has 11,3% of children and adolescents without access to piped water. Pará, with 9,8%, and Alagoas, with 9,1%, complete the list of the five states in the most critical situation.

UNICEF also points out that 19,6 million Brazilian children and adolescents live without adequate access to basic sanitation, which represents 38% of the total population in the country.

In urban areas, the percentage of children and adolescents without access to basic sanitation was 28%, while in rural areas it rose to 92%.

Acre was once again identified as the state with the most worrying situation. There, 31,5% live in homes without access to basic sanitation. Next comes Amazonas, where 23,5% of children and adolescents are in the same situation. Maranhão appears in third position, with 19,8%; Pará, with 16,9%, comes in fourth, and Piauí, with 13,7%, completes the fifth place among states with an extreme situation of lack of access to basic sanitation.

"Regional analyses reveal persistent inequalities, with states in the North and Northeast regions presenting the highest rates of deprivation. In some of these states, more than 80% of children still live in conditions of deprivation of basic rights, which highlights the need for specific policies that address the peculiarities and challenges of these areas," the study states.

UNICEF also said that, given this scenario, it carried out actions that benefited, in 2024, more than 250 people in eight Brazilian states, including around 75 children and adolescents.

The initiatives were aimed at schools, health units, indigenous, quilombola and riverside communities in the states of Pará, Amazonas, Amapá, Bahia, Pernambuco, Maranhão, Roraima and Rio Grande do Sul.

"Our work is focused on strengthening public policies for access to water and sanitation, so that every child and adolescent in Brazil has this right guaranteed," said Rodrigo Resende, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Officer at UNICEF in Brazil.

According to Resende, without potable water and safe sanitation, children's health, nutrition, education, and other rights are compromised.

"That's why UNICEF focuses on the most vulnerable communities and was able to reach so many people in 2024, in different parts of the country, with our strategies."