Cleaner water, better sanitation, and improved hygiene can save millions of lives.

More than 1 billion people throughout the world lack access to clean water, and 2.5 billion don't have access to basic sanitation facilities such as toilets. Billions more don't follow adequate hygiene practices, such as washing their hands. As a result, 1.5 million children under 5 years of age die every year from diarrhea and other water-related illnesses. Countless hours of productivity are lost to the search for clean water, and the social consequences are profound as well (for example, many girls don't attend school because they need to travel long distances to collect water or because the schools have no sanitation facilities).

In August 2005, we launched an initiative to make a limited number of grants to address these problems and to learn if we can play a significant role in improving water, sanitation, and hygiene in the developing world over the long term. This learning process will continue in 2006.

Most investment in water and sanitation has been focused on large infrastructure projects in urban areas. These services rarely reach the most needy groups, including the rural population and the poor who live in urban slums. In our grantmaking, we are exploring commercial and other solutions that make self-sustaining water and sanitation services available and affordable for the poor. We also hope to spur technological innovation in the water and sanitation fields and to help launch initiatives to encourage changes in hygiene and sanitation practices that would lead to greatly improved health as well as economic and social benefits.