The InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP), a global network of academies of science and  medicine, will announce its support for the Joint G8 Science Academies’ Statement Water and Health presented at the heads of state meeting in France in May 2011. A full copy of the G8 Science  Academies’ Statement and IAMP’s endorsement can be found at www.iamp-online.org. 

The 69 member academies that comprise the IAMP wish to underline that access to clean water and sanitation was declared a human right by the United Nations on July 28th, 2010 and stressing that accessibility, quality and protection of water resources are fundamental to human health in rural and urban areas worldwide, the document calls for  governments to develop basic infrastructure, promote education, and  fund research and development to establish networks of competence to improve the efficiency of water use and consumption.
The statement issues a series of recommendations to meet these goals by developing basic infrastructure for sanitation and  maintenance, to achieve acceptable quality water  as key priorities and reduce rural/urban disparities;    Promoting education including training of professionals  and technicians; _funding research and development for the identification  of pathogens of animal origin and the development  of simple, low-cost and efficient markers; Promoting  capacity-building to improve water management  and hygiene standards;  Establishing  networks of competence at national, regional  and global levels to improve the efficiency  of water use in domestic context, as well as in agriculture  and industry, through research and innovative  practices that are ecologically oriented. 

 “IAMP believes that the statement of the G8 academies of science deserves the widest possible dissemination and  support and for that reason, we have submitted it to our 69 member academies for their consideration and possible  endorsement,” said Dr. Jo Ivey Boufford and Professor Lai-Meng Looi Co-chairs of IAMP.
 “We hope to add their support to all efforts to rally  governments to heed this call for intensified action to achieve global goals to reduce maternal, infant, and child  mortality.” 

About the IAMP  The InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP) is a global network of national academies of medicine and academies of  sciences or engineering with medical members committed to working together to improve health world-wide, especially  in low-income countries. IAMP activities focus on institutional collaboration to strengthen the role of all academies in  alleviating the health burdens of the world's poorest people; build national scientific capacity in research and higher  education to improve health; and provide independent scientific advice on health and science policy to national  governments and global organizations. 

Contacts:
IAMP Secretariat
c/o TWAS, Strada Costiera 11 34151 Trieste, Italy

Dr. Bernie Jones  -  (bjones@twas.org) Tel + 39 040 2240 692
Ms Muthoni Kareithi - (iamp@twas.org) Tel + 39 040 2240 681, Fax + 39 040 22407681