Nigeria: Rescue From Diseases Through Water, Sanitation, Hygiene

6 February 2015

It promises to reduce the incidence of water borne diseases, improve personal hygiene, stop open defecation and empower rural communities in Yobe, Kano, Jigawa, Osun, Cross River and Anambra. But only about 20 per cent of the communities are benefitting leaving the remaining 80 per cent at the mercy of cholera, gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, typhoid fever and other communicable diseases due to absence of safe water and toilet facilities, which leads to people using the same stream of water for bathing, washing, defecation, cooking and drinking.

The Guardian visited some of the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) projects in Anambra state, which were commissioned by the United Nation Children Fund (UNICEF) with support from European Union (EU). The Guardian investigation revealed that the WASH programme and CLTS are very good and have reduced water borne diseases as well as met targets. But not without challenges of inadequate funding, 'hard' geology of most communities in Anambra state where you have to dig over 1,300 metres to get water, delay in maintenance of the water projects, absence of WASH departments at the local council level, and lack of political will and funds to take the projects to the whole state.

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