Access to clean, safe water is vital for people to stay healthy and to flourish. Yet over 1 billion people worldwide still do not have access to 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 hours each day walking miles to fetch water.
In towns and cities, existing water and sanitation facilities are struggling to cope with the rapidly increasing urban growth rate. Many households only have access to very basic latrines - or to none at all. Private vendors sell water at high prices to those unable to fetch their own.
Water worldwide
- Diarrhoea causes 2.2 million deaths per year, mostly among 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, 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's still much more to do. (Sources: UNICEF, World Water Commission, Water Aid)
Women have testified that they walk between 30-60 minutes, four times a day to collect clean water. Being able to collect the water in minutes, not hours, means more time to earn an income for the family.
Moreover, having a safe water supply, adequate sanitation installations and basic hygiene sensitization are essential to reducing cases of water borne diseases. If people are stronger and healthier, they have more time to spend in the field. With increased productivity and less medical bills to pay, the family income will increase.
What RFDP is doing
- Facilitate the formation and Supporting of Water and Sanitation Committee’s. So far more 80 water and sanitation committees have been formed across the district.
- Rehabilitating shallow Wells
- Construction and sinking of new shallow wells
- Constructing ventilated Improved Pit latrines (VIP) in both community and government schools and promoting school sanitation by use of hand washing facilities in schools. Currently more than 70 VIP Latrines have been constructed in schools in Lundazi district benefiting more than 2,500 school going children.
- Sensitization meetings and Workshops on basic hygiene and well management. So far 80 water and sanitation committees have been trained in basic hygiene, well management and Ecological sanitation.
A woman at Mungwele village benefiting from the newly rehabilitated well by RFDP.RFDP protect water sources and will forge ahead to build more new wells in rural areas of Lundazi District.
RFDP will also continue to sensitize the communities to form more water and sanitation committees that will be responsible for the welfare of the wells in villages. Volunteers will also be identified to spearhead the work at the village wells. RFDP forge ahead to train committees to look after the new wells and keep them in good working order. Volunteers are trained in good hygiene and sanitation and are encouraged to pass their knowledge onto others to improve the health of their whole village.
