Water of Life
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The health implications of inadequate access to a safe water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) negatively affect billions of people around the globe. More than a quarter of the world’s population – 2.4 billion people – live without adequate sanitation, and 664 million lack access to safe drinking water.
Universal, affordable and sustainable access to WASH is a key public health issue within international development and is the focus of Sustainable Development Goal 6.
Several international development agencies assert that attention to WASH can also improve health, life expectancy, student learning, gender equality, and other principal issues of international development. Access to WASH includes safe water, adequate sanitation and hygiene education. This can reduce illness and death and reduce poverty and improve socio-economic development.
Lack of sanitation contributes to about 700,000 child deaths every year due to diarrhea, mainly in developing countries. Chronic diarrhea can have long-term negative effects on children, in terms of both physical and cognitive development. In addition, lack of WASH facilities can prevent students from attending school, impose an unusual burden on women and reduce work productivity.
Investing in WASH is one of the most effective and efficient choices we can make for global nutrition, child health, education, and empowerment of women. Women and children are disproportionately affected by inadequate WASH services. In many parts of the developing world, women and girls are responsible for obtaining water for their families and often must spend hours each day seeking out water – not only putting their safety at risk, but also preventing them from playing a more active and productive role in their communities. Women and girls without adequate sanitation services are liable to miss school or work during menstruation or may be put at an increased risk of sexual assault. Handwashing with soap is also a key component of clean and safe birthing practices, which could save up to 40 percent of the 2.8 million infants that die during their first month of life. The expansion and improvement of WASH programming is therefore an essential element of the Light My World International vision.
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