UNITED NATIONS, New York City: More people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) in a message to mark World Water Day.

The United Nations Children’s Fund or Unicef noted that more than 155 million people, or 39 percent of the population in West and Central Africa, do not have access to potable water, with only eight of 24 countries in the region on track to meet key poverty-reduction targets by 2015.