Do you think everyone has access to water? Unfortunately, in many countries of the world this is a luxury. This is the cause of diseases that often lead to death.
Opening a faucet, preparing food, taking a bath or just washing hands and face are simple, everyday activities for the people of Poland. At the same time, 2 billion people in different countries - especially in the Global South - do not have access to clean and safe water in their immediate vicinity. This is especially the case in the Horn of Africa, a region plagued by both devastating droughts and devastating floods.
Diarrheal diseases kill up to 1,000 children a day
The Somali peninsula, or Horn of Africa, suffers from both devastating droughts and devastating floods. Both climatic events deprive people of access to clean drinking water, making it impossible to maintain proper hygiene and health. Thus, it affects the spread of infectious diseases, both viral and bacterial. Children forced to use polluted water bodies often suffer from diarrheal diseases. Few people realize that as a result of them, up to 1,000 children die every day around the world, says Helena Krajewska, spokeswoman for the Polish Humanitarian Organization.
For families living in countries such as Somalia and South Sudan, lack of access to water also leads to food poverty. As a result, children are not fed the minimum variety of food they need in their first years of life for proper growth and development. They often feed only on milk and cereals.
Lack of water is a hygiene problem during menstruation
Access to clean water is also important for school-age girls. When menstruating, many of them are not able to maintain hygiene during the school day, which is why they miss classes. This translates into the problem of unequal access to education based on gender. Many girls also waste time they could have spent studying on the long haul to fetch water. Around the world, girls and women spend 200 million hours a day to provide water for their families.
“It’s about wasted time, hours that could have been spent working, studying, pursuing your passions” – adds Helena Kraevskaya.
The Polish humanitarian action is building new water intakes in these areas, repairing the sanitary infrastructure and distributing hygiene products.
Climate impact on water scarcity
However, access to water is not only its physical presence, but also its proper quality. As many as 1/4 of the world’s population now use unprotected surface water - backwaters, rivers, lakes - or buy water from suppliers, often allocating a large portion of the household budget to this. However, due to the climate crisis, even such water is becoming scarce.
“Climate change and the resulting water shortages are forcing people to leave their homes more and more often, especially in South Sudan,” says David Audie, head of PAH in South Sudan. “For the fourth year in a row, we are seeing huge floods here and we know that the situation will only get worse. Unfortunately, climate change hits hardest those who contribute the least to it.
The Polish Humanitarian Action calls for support for its activities, which daily increase access to water, toilets and hygiene in the countries of East Africa - Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan and Madagascar.
Source: Wprost
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