Working together to end poverty and injustice

Water and sanitation in the Pacific

In Papua New Guinea, 61 per cent of the population does not have access to clean water.

Many people across the Pacific still do not have access to safe water and sanitation, so Oxfam New Zealand's development work is increasingly focused in our neighbourhood.

• In Papua New Guinea, 61 percent of the population does not have access to safe water. This is one of the country's biggest challenges.
• In Vanuatu, 40 percent of the population does not have access to safe water.
• In Fiji, 53 percent of the population does not have access to safe water.

The sanitation challenge

In 2004, a Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals evaluated progress on improvements in water and sanitation in the Pacific region. They were deemed to be either insufficient to meet the goal or were nonexistent.

Progress on basic sanitation was particularly poor. The proportion of the urban population with access to improved sanitation had actually fallen. The percentage of the Pacific population with access to improved sanitation was reported as only 45 percent. There has been minimal change in rural areas where improved water supply services and sanitation are needed most.

The projected lack of progress in achieving this goal places even greater importance on Oxfam Water for Survival’s work in the Pacific.

You can help. With your gift of $50 you can help bring safe water to those who so desperately need it.

• Donate to Oxfam's Water for Survival programme

• Read more about poverty in the Pacific