Africa faces huge challenges with multiple issues that adversely affect public health. One major challenge is the ability for both rural and urban Africans to access a clean water supply. According to the WHO (2006), only 59% of the world's population had access to adequate sanitation systems, and efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goal, which is aiming for 75% by the year 2015, will fall short by nearly half a billion people.
A rural area in Uganda, East Africa)
The situation of access to clean water and sanitation in rural Africa is even more dismal than the previous statistics imply. The WHO (2006) stated that, in 2004, only 16% of people in sub-Saharan Africa had access to drinking water through a household connection (an indoor tap or a tap in the yard). Not only is there poor access to readily accessible drinking water, even when water is available in these small towns, there are risks of contamination due to several factors. When wells are built and water sanitation facilities are developed, they are improperly maintained to due to limited financial resources. Water quality testing is not performed as often as is necessary, and lack of education among the people utilizing the water source leads them to believe that as long as they are getting water from a well, it is safe. Once a source of water has been provided, quantity of water is often given more attention than quality of water (Awuah, Nyarko, Owusu, & Osei-Bonsu, 2009).
There are limited sources of water available to provide clean drinking water to the entire population of Africa. Surface water sources are often highly polluted, and infrastructure to pipe water from fresh, clean sources to arid areas is too costly of an endeavor. Groundwater is the best resource to tap to provide clean water to the majority of areas in Africa, especially rural Africa, and groundwater has the benefit of being naturally protected from bacterial contamination and is a reliable source during droughts. However, the high costs associated with drilling for water, and the technical challenges in finding sources that are large enough to serve the population in need, present challenges that limit tapping the resource. Groundwater is not a fail-safe resource, either, when it comes to providing clean water. There may be contamination of the water with heavy metals, and bacteria may be introduced by leaking septic systems or contaminated wells. For these reasons, it is important that groundwater be monitored frequently, which is costly and requires technical abilities that may not be present in rural areas (Awuah, et al., 2009).
(By Lori Lewis, Writer)
WHIO's Department of public Information
Monday July 11, 2022
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