What has this got to do with WASH?
Cholera is an infection caused by ingesting bacteria present in contaminated water and food. The World Health Organisation has said that in Mozambique poor standards of WASH (lack of access to safe drinking water, poor sanitation and hygiene practices) is the main reason why the disease is continuing to spread. According to UN Data, only half of Mozambicans have access to a safe water supply and just 20% have access to basic sanitation facilities (Mozambique – Cluster Status: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) | Digital Situation Reports (unocha.org)). Increasing access to safe water and improving standards of hygiene will be essential to containing the spread and preventing future outbreaks.
How can our project activities help?
We install and rehabilitate water points which provide communities with safe drinking water, free from contamination. Water quality is tested regularly for 5 years after the project has been completed, this means that we can detect bacteria and are able to re-chlorinate the water if necessary to make it safe to drink again.
Each community that we work in also takes part in hygiene and sanitation training run by our local partners. These sessions teach communities about the cause and prevention of disease and demonstrate how private bathing, toilet and handwashing facilities can be made from local and low-cost resources. We find that after we have installed safe water points and communities have taken part in this training cases of diarrhoea, eye and skin infections reduces on average by 93%.
This year we are bringing safe water and hygiene and sanitation training to a further 517 communities in Mozambique. Thanks to your generous donations, people in these communities will be armed with the knowledge and facilities to help prevent and stop the spread of diseases like cholera.
