RESUMO
Abstract Economic development and good health depended on access to clean water and sanitation. Therefore, because economic development and good health depended on access to clean water and sanitation, beginning in the early 1970s the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), and others began a period of sustained interest in developing both for the billions without either. During the 1980s, two massive and wildly ambitious projects showed what was possible. The International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade and the Blue Nile Health Project aimed for nothing less than the total overhaul of the way water was developed. This was, according to the WHO, "development in the spirit of social justice."
Resumo Crescimento econômico e boa saúde dependem de acesso a saneamento e água limpa. Assim, o Banco Mundial, a Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS) e outros órgãos, a partir do início da década de 1970, inauguraram um período de contínuo interesse no desenvolvimento de ambos para bilhões de pessoas desprovidas de tais necessidades. Durante a década de 1980, dois projetos monumentais e extremamente ambiciosos demonstraram o que era viável fazer. A International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade e o Blue Nile Health Project visavam à total reestruturação do modelo de desenvolvimento da água. Tratava-se, segundo a OMS, do "desenvolvimento do espírito de justiça social".