Education, health and shelter are three basic and essential services long enshrined as a fundamental human right in the Universal Declaration of 1948, but ever since contradicted by the grave reality of life for a large swathe of the world population. Still more than one billion people lack access to basic health care services, another one billion people (the majority of them women) lack even a basic education, and almost two billion people live in overcrowded and poor quality housing - with at least another 100 million people living homeless worldwide.