A Nepali government official said that at lest 15,000 children below five die every year in Nepal because of diarrhea, state run Radio Nepal reported Saturday.

"Various researches have proved that many children die every year because of the impure water and lack of cleanliness," the radio quoted Binod Gautam, chief of the District Public Health Office of Parsa district, as saying.

The percentage of diarrhea-affected children can be reduced by 30-40 percent through use of pure drinking water, Gautam said in seminar entitled "Quality Test of Drinking Water".

"A total of 20 percent of diarrhea can be reduced through safe water storage, 40 percent by cleaning hands properly and 30 percent through sanitation," Gautam added.

The seminar was organized by the government-owned Drinking Water and Sanitation Division Office with the assistance of United Nations International Children's Fund in Birjung city of the district, some 100 km south of Kathmandu.

Source: Xinhua