Uganda: Over 10 Million Lack Access to Safe Water

BY GODFREY OJORE, 22 MARCH 2012

Comment

 As the world marks World Water Day today, close to a quarter of Uganda's population lack access to safe water, according to research by Water Aid Uganda.

Most of those without access either live in hard-to-reach areas or parts of the country that have been affected by war.

Speaking during the launch of Water Aid/EU funded post-conflict project in Soroti, Alice Anukur, the country representative Water Aid Uganda said they are intervening to rescue communities from such places.

"The project we are launching has a goal of equitable and sustainable access to safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene for poor communities in post conflict areas of Uganda, Ankur said.

The five-year project worth €2,744,312 will benefit the five districts of Masindi, Pallisa, Amuria, Katakwi and Napak. The money is a grant from the European Union.

Anukur explained that the project that commenced its work nine months back will enable 36,786 communities to access safe water and 74,200 people to access good sanitation facilities within households, schools and health centers.

"In Napak, water coverage is at 49% while sanitation is less than 10%. This points to the need for greater emphasis on sanitation improvement in the district with appropriate approaches," Anukur explained.

According to the findings of Water Aid, distance was regarded as a constraint to access to safe water supply in which over 60% of the rural household reported that they travel about 1.5km or more to access safe water.

The district leaders of the five districts were present during the official launch of the project at Soroti Hotel and expressed gratitude towards Water Aid for the support.

"Amuria is lagging behind in water coverage but we are grateful today to Water Aid for donating us 14 boreholes. Water coverage in Amuria is below 50%," Alfred Malinga the CAO Amuria said.

Water Aid expects at the end of the project to see more equitable and sustainable access to water, sanitation and hygiene and also empower poor and underserved communities that hold duty bearers accountable.

About 1.1 billion people the world over cannot access safe drinking water, and still 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation, according to UN reports.

And because of this massive sanitation figure, 1.8 million people die every year from diarrheal diseases, including 90% of children under the age of five.

Tagged: East Africa, Environment, Sustainable Development, Uganda, Water

Kenya: assessing the impact of a school-based water treatment, hygiene and sanitation programme on pupil absence

Posted on March 22, 2012 by dietvorst | Leave a comment

Tropical Medicine & International Health, December 2011, doi:10.1111/j.1365-3156.2011.02927.x

Assessing the impact of a school-based water treatment, hygiene and sanitation programme on pupil absence in Nyanza Province, Kenya: a cluster-randomized trial

Matthew C. Freeman, Leslie E. Greene, et al.

Objectives  There has been increased attention to access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) at schools in developing countries, but a dearth of empirical studies on the impact. We conducted a cluster-randomized trial of school-based WASH on pupil absence in Nyanza Province, Kenya, from 2007 to 2008.

Methods  Public primary schools nested in three geographical strata were randomly assigned and allocated to one of three study arms [water treatment and hygiene promotion (WT & HP), additional sanitation improvement, or control] to assess the effects on pupil absence at 2-year follow-up.

Results  We found no overall effect of the intervention on absence. However, among schools in two of the geographical areas not affected by post-election violence, those that received WT and HP showed a 58% reduction in the odds of absence for girls (OR 0.42, CI 0.21–0.85). In the same strata, sanitation improvement in combination with WT and HP resulted in a comparable drop in absence, although results were marginally significant (OR 0.47, 0.21–1.05). Boys were not impacted by the intervention.

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Conclusion  School WASH improvements can improve school attendance for girls, and mechanisms for gendered impacts should be explored. Incomplete intervention compliance highlights the challenges of achieving consistent results across all settings.