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WATER::
With almost 1.2 Billion
people in our world lacking access to a clean water supply and
over 2.6 Billion having no means of healthy sanitation, water
problems, directly or indirectly, plague virtually half of our
world. More than thirst, a lack of clean water affects three
primary areas of life: health, poverty, education.
Health::
Unclean and
unsafe drinking water and poor basic sanitation contributes to
approximately 80% of all sickness and disease in the world.
In the next
24
hours, diarrhea alone, caused
by unclean water and poor sanitation, will claim the lives of
close to 5,000 children" (OXFAM). At any given time half of all
of the hospital beds in the world are holding someone who is
suffering from a water-borne illness or disease. Babies need
clean water to survive as well. In villages where access to
clean water is provided the infant mortality rate has seen drops
of 50%. Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Diarrhea, Guinea Worm…all of these
issues will look radically different with access to clean water.
Healthy immune systems mean more strength to fight off disease.
But, to simply avoid
dehydration, people are having to choose between thirst or
taking the chance of infection from contaminated water sources
shared with animals, parasites and waste. Water is claiming more
lives every year than all forms of violence, including war.
Poverty::
One of the most prominent,
but often overlooked, causes of poverty is the lack of access to
clean drinking water. If one cannot eat and has no water nearby,
they often have little time or energy to do much else. With
unclean water sources often miles from villages, many of the
able bodied members of a community are forced to spend hours
each day simply finding and transporting water. With water
projects, wells are placed in close proximity to villages
allowing these members of the community to focus their time and
energies on working themselves out of poverty.
Education::
With the
burden of water transportation falling women and primarily
girls, they have little time for education, which is critical to
changing the long-term prospects of developing nations.
Additionally,
collecting water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment
and assault.
Schools cannot run programs
if they cannot provide water to students, faculty and their
families. Because so many adults are sick from unclean water,
children are often left to manage homes, provide food and look
after the sick. With the many additional burdens that a lack of
clean water brings, education simply becomes less of a priority.
This sets up an unfortunate cycle of poverty as without a proper
education, there is little chance of improving one's situation
later in life.
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