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Muhtar Kent, President and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, said:
"Africa's water crisis threatens the health of its population and, therefore, its prospects for economic growth. Communities need strong, healthy people to thrive, and our business needs strong, healthy communities to grow and be sustainable. Helping African communities tackle their water challenges is an important priority for our Company and our bottling partners, and is an area where we can make a positive and lasting impact."
According to the World Health Organization, more than 300m Africans lack access to safe drinking water, and millions of them die each year from preventable waterborne illnesses. Up to half of the region's population at any one time suffers from diseases related to unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation.
Between 2004 and 2015, the number of people living without access to safe water in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to increase by 47m people. Africa is expected to miss the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals target for access to clean drinking water by 111m people and the sanitation target by 289m.
William Asiko, President of The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, said: "No single organization can resolve Africa's development challenges, but together with civic society, non-governmental organizations and government, we can make a positive difference in the lives of the people who make up our communities."
The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation currently has water projects in 19 African countries -- Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Cote d' Ivoire, Kenya, Mali, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia -- reaching over 300,000 people.
The water projects are all implemented in partnership with local communities in each country. They also contribute to The Coca-Cola Company's aspirational water stewardship goal of returning to communities and to nature an amount of water equivalent to what we use in all of our beverages and their production. The Company's strategy for achieving that goal has three components:
- Reduce - Improving water efficiency by 20% by 2012, compared to a baseline year 2004.
- Recycle - Returning all water the Company uses for manufacturing processes to the environment at a level that supports aquatic life and agriculture by the end of 2010.
- Replenish - Expanding the Company's support of healthy watersheds and sustainable community water programs to balance the water used in its finished beverages.
Asiko added: "Having access to clean water still remains a luxury, not a given, in large parts of the continent. RAIN helps us both fulfill our environmental goals while also providing health benefits that will allow our communities and our business to grow and prosper."
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Posted by Rima Ali Al Mashni
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