Sub-Sahara Africa is the region where the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets on water and sanitation are most off-track. In March 2005 I committed to double DFID’s support to water and sanitation in Africa to £95 million a year by 2007-08 and more than double funding again to £200 million a year by 2010-11.
We are making good progress towards achieving this target. We have significantly increased our water and sanitation programmes, focusing on countries where current access levels are particularly low. DFID is providing £6 million to the African Development Bank’s Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative, with a target of achieving 80 per cent. rural access to water supply and sanitation by 2015. In Ethiopia we are developing a new £100 million programme to provide water and sanitation to 4 million people. Programmes in DRC, Sudan, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Rwanda are expanding.