Sierra Leone, Freetown: photographer documents extreme sanitation conditions in Kroo Bay slum

He then asked me: you want to know the truth? We’re all suffering here in Kroo Bay. He began talking about the water issues again and showing me his arms with open sores, “you see these, they move at night” – he was talking about the worms in his body.

Photographer Dominic Chavez spent a week documenting the life of communities in Kroo Bay, one of the worst slums in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He writes about his encounters in the summer 2010 issue of Global Health magazine, a publication of the Global Health Council.

[A]fter meeting a wonderful family who lived underneath a small bridge in Freetown. I was surprised by the amount of raw sewage and the lack of clean water. After visiting this family a couple more times they told me there were communities in Freetown much worse.

This was when I first heard of Kroo Bay, a difficult slum filled with good families and shanty structures overrun with garbage, extreme sanitation issues, and a long list of health conditions due to the lack of clean water. Some of the biggest issues they are facing are polio, ringworm, typhoid fever and malaria, not to forget a high incidence of child malnutrition.

Kroo Bay, Freetown. Photo: Dominic Chavez

In Kroo Bay, Chavez saw some of the worse conditions he had ever seen: homes without with dirt floors, no windows, no doors and roofs that provided no shelter from the heat and rain, and children “digging in heaps of trash and pools of blackened water”.

See the full story and pictures.

Sierra Leone: ADB plans to restore pipe borne water to provincial locations

As a sign of the APC-led Government’s vision to restore pipe borne water to Provincial locations all over Sierra Leone, a team of experts from the African Development Bank (ADB) and Sierra Leone Water Company (SALWACO) on Friday 23 July 2010 held talks with the Makeni City Council and Civil Society groups in that part of the country to find ways of reactivating sustainable water supply project for Makeni City.

Addressing stakeholders at a well attended meeting at the New City Hall, the ADB team leader, Mr. Tom Robert Mogoya said the Bank and the Government of Sierra Leone are finalising an agreement for the construction of a 28 million Euros water supply system for Makeni and its immediate environs.
Mr Mogoya further stated that the project would cover 15 kilometre pipe water distribution system, the compensation of property owners whose properties will be destroyed during the process as well as capacity building for SALWACO staff and other stakeholders.

The ADB team leader disclosed that the project would provide a revolving loan to help consumers to connect with the water system and pay later. He used the forum to appeal to stakeholders and community members to work with SALWACO to improve on the water supply system in that city.

Mr. Edmund Koroma representing the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development said Makeni had been denied access to pure water since 1972, with residents largely depending on dug out water wells for consumption. “Any time from now, the people of Makeni will no longer depend on well water as the ministry is ready to work with ADB and SALWACO to set up the water system in the city as well as increase on distribution to new areas,” he iterated.

In his statement the Mayor of Makeni City, His Worship Moses Sesay noted that the project was another feather added to the cap of the Council. He said they have been embarrassed by series of questions from residents on their development plans with regards the provision of pure drinking water. He assured ADB and SALWACO of Council’s total support towards the realisation of the water project.

SALWACO Regional Manager, Mr. Alimamy Kargbo commended ADB for coming to their aid, adding that SALWACO was ready to work and improve on water distribution in Makeni City.

Visitation to various SALWACO facilities in and out of Makeni climaxed the occasion.

Source: Mohamed Kabba, Awareness Times, 28 July 2010

Uganda (15th African Union Summit): Janet Museveni pleads for children

Uganda’s first lady Janet Museveni has asked African Union leaders to improve access to safe sanitation and water if they want to tackle child mortality. She says Africa must address the issue of sanitation and water and ensure that the two are integrated into the health strategies of each and every government in Africa.

This will enable the continent to significantly improve the health of its children and mothers, Mrs Museveni adds.

If the citizens do not have access to safe sanitation, hygiene and clean water, child mortality and maternal health shall be undermined, she adds.

She says if leaders do not multiply and improve their efforts, improving child health will be challenging. She was addressing a press conference in Munyonyo, the venue of the 15th African Union Summit.

A communiqué issued Monday in Kampala by Mrs. Museveni on the sidelines of the summit, said: “Each day, 2,000 small Africans die from diarrhoea, while the use of toilets with all the hygiene and health conditions can reduce the mortality rate related to this disease by 90 per cent”.

The summit, in which about 40 heads of state and government are taking part, is centred on “maternal, neonatal and child health and development in Africa”.

The African heads of state are not making their first commitments in the sense of guaranteeing basic services in the medium term, the communiqué stressed, recalling the 2008 Summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, on water and sanitation.

“Within five years from its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the objective of reducing the number of victims of the lack of water and sanitation by half will not be achieved before the next 200 years south of the Sahara,” the communiqué lamented, quoting Yunia Musaazi of “WaterAid’s East Africa Policy and Advocacy Adviser”.

Source: Sunday Vision and Panapress, 27 July 2010

Cholera outbreaks in Cameroon and Nigeria

Cholera cases have been reported from Zambia, Somalia, Mozambique and now from Cameroon, where cholera has killed 77 people in the northern part of the country since early June, the government said on Monday, raising concern that the worst epidemic since 2004 may spread into neighbouring Nigeria and Chad.

Cameroon Health Minister Mama Fouda called on people in the region to be careful and report suspected cases immediately.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said there was a risk of the outbreak, the worst since 100 people died of the disease in the economic capital Douala in 2004, spreading fast.

“There is the fear that if nothing is done urgently, the epidemic might expand rapidly with uncalculated consequences in Cameroon and neighbouring countries like Nigeria and Chad,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

Six people have been confirmed dead and at least 160 infected following the outbreak of gyesteritics in some parts of Bauchi metropolis, Nigeria. This was disclosed by the Commissioner of Health, Mohammed Yahaya Jalam, to Sunday Independent in his office on Friday. According to him, out of the 160 people infected, 100 have been treated at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, and discharged while the remaining 60 are still receiving treatment.

A South African company, Zenith Water Projects, has donated cholera eradication materials to Adamawa and Taraba states to curtail the spread of the disease.

Source: Patience Ogbodo, Daily Independent / allAfrica.com, 24 July 2010 and News24.com / Reuters, 26 July 2010

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Senegal: Access to water is transforming life in rural areas

Kalla Niang, 12, is highly self assured and energetic. She is busily preparing herself for high school, an opportunity that, until recently, would not have been available to her. She lives in the village of Darou Ngaraf in northern Senegal.

Like many girls in rural Senegal, Kalla and her sisters are responsible for many daily chores, including drawing water from a communal well that is located far from their village.

“My sisters and I had to rise before dawn to fetch water, and we were very often late for school,” she said. “We always arrived very tired because drawing and carrying water is not easy.”

Lack of energy and time for an education was not the only danger that Kalla and the other villagers faced by not having access to a reliable source of water. Drawing water from unregulated sources of water put them at risk of diarrhoea and malaria.

A joint UNDP and Government well programme, however, has been improving the opportunities and future of people like Kalla all across Senegal. Launched in 2003, the programme – called the Programme of Drinking Water and Sanitation for the Millennium – is designed to ensure the sustainable supply of drinking water for 2.3 million people in Senegal’s rural areas. It aims to raise the rate of access to clean drinking water by households to 82 percent in 2015 – the deadline for achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) – from 64 percent in 2004.

In September 2009, the programme drilled a well near Darou Ngaraf, providing over 4,000 villagers in 31 villages with the means to pipe clean water into their homes. By 2009, 74 percent of rural residents were able to access potable drinking water, thanks to the programme. If the trend holds steady, Senegal will be able to achieve the MDG target for drinking water.

“Women and children used to suffer the most,” remembered Aminata Guèye, president of a local association of well users. “We spent so much time drawing water and we often came down with water-related diseases.”

“Now we plan to hook up other villages that do not yet have access to clear, potable water,” she said. Villagers pay a small fee to lay down the pipes that will connect their homes to the well in addition to the regular monthly utility fees.

The programme also aims to provide three million more people to an independent system for the disposal of waste water, as well as establishing latrines for schools, clinics, bus stops and weekly markets in rural communities.

For Kalla and her village, access to a clean and regular source of water is opening up new horizons. Village residents hope to gain access to micro-financing in order to set up communal agricultural fields for women farmers.

“The village is becoming greener and more beautiful every day,” she said. “We are going to plant vegetables like carrots, cabbages, potatoes and tomatoes, for our own consumption, and also to sell to other villages.”

One day, Kalla would like to become a teacher. For the time being, however, she is focused on how to provide bathroom facilities for her school, which is located a little over one kilometer away from the village. She wants to make sure the school is equipped with running water, “this precious fluid” as she is fond of calling it.

“Each time I touch it, I touch life itself,” she said.

Source: Darou Ngaraf, UNDP / (allAfrica.com, 26 July 2010

Uganda: Leaders told to fight diarrhoea

Non-government organisations have asked African heads of state slated to meet in Kampala to fight diarrhoea in children under the age of five. A report ¹ published by the Lancet medical journal last month indicates that diarrhoea has overtaken pneumonia as the top killer of children on the continent, with 2,000 children dying everyday because of the disease.

“The biggest killer of children under the age of five in Africa is in danger of being entirely overlooked at this week’s African Union summit in Uganda,” reads a statement from Water Aid, an international organisation working to provide safe domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education to the world’s poorest communities. “These are deaths that are preventable through access to sanitation, hygiene education and clean water.”

The report indicated that although diarrhoea and pneumonia do not make global headlines like HIV/Aids and malaria, they kill an estimated 3.5 million children under the age of five each year globally – more than HIV and malaria combined.

Ms Yunia Musaazi, the WaterAid’s policy adviser in East Africa, yesterday said: “If African leaders are serious about tackling child deaths across our continent, they must tackle diarrhoea, the biggest killer of our children.” “Only if improved access to sanitation is addressed will we see any kind of progress on the fourth MDG (Millennium Development Goal) of reduce child mortality by two-thirds.”

Source: Gerald Bareebe, The Monitor /allAfrica.com, 22 July 2010

¹ Black, R.E. .. et al (2010). ‘Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality in 2008 : a systematic analysis’. In: The lancet, vol. 375, no. 9730, p. 1969 – 1987

See also: Ross, I. and Cumming, O. (2009). Fatal neglect : how health systems are failing to comprehensively address child mortality. London, UK, WaterAid. P. 7

Botswana: Outrage as Court denies Bushmen access to water

There was outrage today as Botswana’s High Court denied the Kalahari Bushmen access to water. The Judge ruled that the Bushmen were not entitled to access an existing water borehole on their lands or to drill a new one inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, one of the driest regions in the world. The hearing of the case was held at Botswana’s High Court in Lobatse on June 9, but the judge reserved his ruling until today. When the government evicted the Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in 2002, it capped the borehole, the only source of water for the Bushman communities in the Reserve. In 2006 Botswana’s High Court ruled that the government had acted unconstitutionally when it evicted the Bushmen and said they had the right to return to the Reserve. Hundreds of Bushmen have since gone back home. Despite the Bushmen’s repeated attempts to negotiate with the government, it still refuses to let them use the water borehole. The Bushmen, who live in one of the world’s driest regions, are forced to make an arduous 300 mile round trip to obtain water outside the reserve. Since the borehole was capped one Bushman has died of dehydration. In desperation the Bushmen are going to court to assert their basic human right to water. The UN’s top official on indigenous rights, Professor James Anaya, has also condemned the government for its treatment of the Bushmen, stating that it falls short of the ‘relevant international human rights standards’. He found that Bushmen in the reserve ‘face harsh and dangerous conditions due to a lack of access to water’, and called on the government to reactivate the borehole ‘as a matter of urgent priority’. Jumanda Gakelebone, a Bushman from the CKGR, said today ‘The High Court said we have the right to live on the land of our ancestors. Surely that includes the right to drink our water. Many Bushmen, especially the old people and the young are suffering from lack of water. It pains us that the animals and tourists on our land can drink our water to their heart’s content yet we go thirsty. We pray that the court will give us back our water.’

Source: Survival International /allAfrica.com, 22 July 2010

Sierra Leone: CORD-SL and partners launched SSHE Programme in Koya Chiefdom

In an effort to maintain total sanitation through the SSHE programme in schools communities located in the rural areas, a Local Non Governmental Organization, CORD Sierra Leone in partnership with Goal Sierra Leone has launched the School Sanitation and Hygiene Education program (SSHE) Program targeting five primary schools in the Koya chiefdom Kenema district.

The programme will benefit schools that lack access to basic water supply and sanitation services in order to reduce incidence of major childhood illnesses among their students. Poor health is an important underlying factor for low school enrolment, absenteeism, poor classroom performance, and early school dropout.

The School Sanitation and Hygiene Education program (SSHE) concentrates on the school environment, with focus on sanitation facilities and hygiene education in the education programs. It deals with the total package of sanitary conditions, facilities available in and around the school compound, promotion of hygienic conditions at the school, and the fostering of practices of school staff and children that help to prevent water and sanitation related diseases.

The Regional Coordinator of CORD Sierra Leone, East Saidu B. Freeman explained that the importance of good school sanitation systems is especially critical in the rural context since households and schools lack proper sanitation facilities. He noted that unless the situation is corrected, school pupils will continue to grow-up thinking that the existing sanitation and hygiene practices are the correct norms. He said a good school sanitation system on the other hand will serve as their role model for good sanitation and hygiene!

The CORD Regional Coordinator added that the SSHE programme will help develop life skills that are to cope with life through hygiene management and encouraged the school pupils to serve as ambassadors in communicating the best hygiene practices to their parents at home. The training also targeted adopted family members on the importance of SSHE aimed at interfacing and collaborating with each other in order to improve on sanitation in the area.

The Paramount Chief representative for Koya Chiefdom Momoh Koroma lauded the development initiative of CORD Sierra Leone and partners and assured all of the chiefdom people’s commitments towards the success of the programme. Chief Momoh Koroma on behalf the chiefdom appealed to CORD Sierra Leone and Goal Ireland for the erection of a court Barry and more health centre to address the appalling health situation in the area.

Baindu Konneh a councilor’s representative and a teachers representative Mustapha A. Koroma all made meaningful statements in respect of the programme.

Source: Sheku Tanga, awarenesstimes.com, 16 July 2010

Ghana: Zain supplies Ateibu with potable water

Telecom giant, Zain Ghana, as part of its corporate social responsibility, has commissioned a community water project for the people of Ateibu community in the Suhum Craboa Coaltar District of the Eastern Region.

The project, which was embarked upon by Zain under its Touching Lives TV reality show, is a direct response to the clarion call by the people of the community who hitherto went through harrowing experience in the cause of getting clean and healthy source of water for their daily consumption.

The donation of the borehole by the telecoms provider brings to an end, the perennial water shortage and the attendant health issues which the people have had to cope with in the past.

Speaking at the commissioning, the Chief Executive Officer of Zain, Philip Sowah, expressed the determination of the company to raise the standard of living of the people in the host communities where Zain operates.

Sowah, who was represented by Benjamin Ato Afful, the External Affairs Executive, said “the commissioning of the water borehole project in Ateibu demonstrates Zain Ghana’s unflinching pledge to its corporate philosophy of a wonderful world, adding that the company will strive not only to provide world class telecommunication experience for its esteemed customers, but also endeavour to support the socio-economic development of communities in which it operates”.

He noted that the provision of water cannot be left in the hands of the government alone, saying that Zain Ghana will always partner government and keep seeking opportunities in providing water for underserved rural communities across the country as such gestures would go a long way to improve the health status of community people, especially mothers and children.

On his part, the Chief of Ateibu thanked Zain for the kind gesture. According to him, the people of Ateibu will forever remain grateful to the company for its extraordinary intervention, because “they saw our plight and within a twinkle of an eye, what had become a hydra-headed challenge, has now become a thing of the past”.

In his response, the District Chief Executive Officer of Suhum Kraboa Coaltar District, Hon. Samuel Fleischer-Kwabi, commended Zain for its prompt intervention and its knack for supporting the government of Ghana in raising the bar in relevant developmental projects that directly and positively affects the people.

He promised that government in return will continue to provide conducive and enabling environment for Zain to thrive.

Source: Henking Adjase-Kodjo, BusinessGhana, 18 July 2010

Uganda: African leaders told to improve sanitation, provide clean water

African leaders have been urged to address issues relating to sanitation and water as one of the major components in reducing maternal and infant mortality in the continent.

Yunia Musaazi, the East African policy advisor for Water Aid, said for African countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), it was important to prevent deaths resulting from diarrhoea, which is the biggest killer of children in Africa.

“Everyday, 2,000 African children die from diarrhoea. These deaths are preventable by providing safe water and maintaining sanitation,” Musaazi said.

She was speaking as one of the panelists drawn from civil society organisations across Africa to demand better health services from leaders ahead of the African Heads of State summit scheduled for July 25 to 27.

The theme of this year’s summit is how to make rapid progress in addressing the MDGs that deal with the survival of mothers, infants and children.

Musaazi explained that with good sanitation and safe water, the lives of mothers and their children could significantly be addressed, thereby reducing the number of deaths from unsafe water and poor sanitation.

“An expectant mother needs to deliver from a clean environment. Even after leaving the health centre, she needs to live in a clean environment with clean water for her and the newborn baby,” Musaazi said.

She said a recent study by the World Health Organisation estimates that 28% of child deaths were caused by poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water.

“Sanitation and safe water could prevent nine out of 10 cases of diarrhoea. Using toilets can reduce incidences of diarrhoea by nearly 40%.

Safe sanitation also reduces other leading causes of child deaths, such as under-nutrition and pneumonia,” Musaazi said.

Solome Kimbugwe Nakaweesi, the executive director of Akina Mama Wa Africa, asked African leaders to honour their commitment of allocating 15% of their national budgets to the health sector as agreed in the Abuja declaration.

Nakaweesi said there were many African countries, including Uganda, that had not implemented the Abuja declaration.

She said Uganda was among the African countries that were failing to reduce maternal and infant mortality.

Source: Charles Ariko, New Vision / allAfrica.com, 18 July 2010