Access to clean, safe water is vital for people to stay healthy and to flourish. Yet over 1 billion people world wide do not have the safe water they need to drink.
Lack of clean water leads to children becoming ill, or dying, from preventable water-related diseases like cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea.
In rural areas, women and children, usually girls, miss out on opportunities to earn a living or go to school because they spend most hours each day walking miles to fetch water.
In towns and cities, existing water and sanitation facilities are struggling to cope with the ever rapid increasing urban population growth rate. Many households have access to only very basic latrines – or have none at all. Private vendors sell water at high prices to those unable to fetch their own.
Water and Sanitation Worldwide
- Four out of ten people in the world (2.4 billion) do not have safe and clean toilets (Source: Water Aid-Water for Life)
- Diarrhoea causes 2.2 million deaths per year, mostly children under five
- 64% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa have no access to improved sanitation
- 6,000 children die each day as a result of water-related diseases
- In 2000, world leaders agreed, as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to work towards halving the proportion of people worldwide without access to safe drinking water
- Between 1990 and 2002, 1.1 billion people gained access to improved water sources-but there is still much to do. (Sources: UNICEF, World Water Commission, Water Aid)
- In Zambia, less than 40% of households have access to adequate water and sanitary services.
- Only 46% of people in Lundazi district have access to safe water and only 15% have access to a latrine (Source: Lundazi Ministry of Health)
RFDP Activities under Water and Sanitation
- Facilitate the formation and support of water and sanitation committees-80 committees have been formed and supported
- Rehabilitation of shallow water wells-9 wells have been rehabilitated so far
- Establishment of water and sanitation health (WASH) clubs in schools-9 WASH committees have been formed so far
- Sinking and construction of new shallow water wells
- Construction of ventilated improved pit latrines (VIP) in both community and government schools and promoting sanitation by use of hand washing facilities in schools-so far 70 VIP latrines have been constructed and 8 hand washing facilities have been installed. Toilets are benefiting 2015 pupils and teachers altogether
- Public awareness meetings and training workshops for water and sanitation committees on basic hygiene, ecological sanitation and water wells management-10 awareness meetings have been held and 5 training workshops have been conducted.
- Distribution of bottles of chlorine to treat water in communities
Rehabilitated shallow water well done by RFDP with Support from Netherlands Albert Schweitzer Foundation
Unprotected Drinking Water source for most of the people in the local communities in Lundazi Disitrict.
Rehabilitated shallow water well done by RFDP with Support from Netherlands Albert Schweitzer Foundation
Unprotected Drinking Water source for most of the people in the local communities in Lundazi Disitrict.
