By
Ochieng’ Ogodo
Journalist-Kenya
[Cairo’ Egypt] Many African countries are still struggling to meet development targets
on access to safe water, a new research has revealed.
At the African Union (AU)/African Ministers Council on Water-which
coincides with the 4th Africa Water Week-held in Cairo and ahead of the AU
Heads of State Summit June 2012 – it was observed that safe water gaps remain
in Africa with 19 out of 25 countries globally with least access to safe water
being African.
Thirty African countries including Nigeria,
Ethiopia, Tanzania, DRC, Kenya,
Sudan and Mozambique, between
30percent and 70 of populations have no access to safe water.
Consequently diverse water-related diseases such as diarrhoeal diseases,
malaria, dengue fever, intestinal helminths, schistosomiasis, trachoma, dracunculiasis,
poliomyelitis, trypanosomiasis, bancroftian, filariasis, and nchocerciasis. are
ravaging African countries due to poor environmental, water and health
management. They are affecting tens of millions.
About 160 million people are infected with schistosomiasis/bilharzia – a parasitic disease from flatworms–alone, causing tens of
thousands of deaths yearly. According to the World Health Organisation, an
estimated 500 million people are at risk of trachoma of which about 146 million
are threatened by blindness, and 6 million are visually impaired
Nineteen African
countries are among 25 globally with least access to safe water dominate and topping 50
countries with highest child mortality. Between
23% and 59% of children in these countries suffer stunted growth arising from
malnutrition and disease. Between 43% and 91% of overall populations in these
19 African countries have no access to improved sanitation; and between 18% and
68% of their populations live below the poverty line.
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| Better water management key to Africa's development. Pic: Ochieng' Ogodo |
Water management for agriculture is a huge challenge besides safe one
for domestic consumption. Agriculture accounts for roughly 70% of water
consumption globally
Countries without long term sustainable water
resources development and management plans including efficient irrigation, are
more vulnerable to drought and famine, as seen in the
Horn of Africa, and a second developing tragedy across the Sahel in West and
Central Africa – where hunger, starvation, disease and displacement have
combined to devastating effect to affect about 14 million people.
Poor or none existing management of water
resources also means Africa is heading towards
multiple conflicts based on intra and cross border tensions over water
according tot the research.
A person requires 2-4 litres per day for
drinking. The UN estimates each person needs 20-50
litres of water a day to ensure basic drinking, cooking and cleaning, and it
takes 2,000 - 5,000 litres of water to produce a single person's daily food.
Africa’s doubling population from present 1 billion to 2 billion by 2050
without corresponding improvement in clean water supplies, and improved cross
community/border water management will likely lead to increase in disease and
conflict.
And a combination of any
of these, drought, floods, water scarcity, poverty, poor leadership and weak
governments will contribute to social tension and instability that could result
in failure of some states.
Lack of sustainable access to clean water,
sanitation and hygiene costs Sub-Saharan African more in lost GDP than its
countries receive in development aid. Depending
on the country and region, economic benefits for each dollar invested in clean
water and sanitation have been estimated to range from US$ 3 to US$ 34.
Poor water resource management and lack of
sustainable access to clean water has a further negative impact on women’s
development: Where water is not available and has to
be fetched, women/girls are about two and a half times more likely than
men/boys to be main water carriers for families, and it is estimated that women
in low-income countries spend about 40 billion hours annually fetching and
carrying water from sources that may not even provide clean water, with overall
negative impact on women’s and young girls education and productivity.
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| Water is essential for agriculture |
Rotimi Sankore, Africa Health Human and Social Development Alliance, “The cumulative negative domino effect of
lack of clean water, and poor water resources management across Africa is
leading to multifaceted mortality and morbidity costing millions of lives, and
entrenching a cycle of poverty.”
He added, “The centrality of water resources
to everything from agriculture, food security and nutrition; sanitation,
hygiene and overall health; industry; human settlements and displacement; and
development in general means it has to be brought to centre stage of the
African human security and development agenda”
Hundreds of thousands die every year from
preventable diarrhoeal diseases, and malnutrition, majority of which are
children under 5 years old highlights the gap in coordination between sectors
of government. In Sub-Saharan Africa treating largely preventable diarrhoea
consumes an estimated 12 percent of health budgets”
Sankore that child mortality
numbers are just mind boggling: 861,000 under 5’s die a year in Nigeria;
465,000 a year in DRC; 271,000 a year in Ethiopia; 143,000 a year in Sudan and
South Sudan; 133,000 a year in Tanzania; 122,000 a year in Kenya; 121,000 in
Angola; 120,000 in Mali.
Lack of clean water, sanitation, malnutrition, poor water resources and
environmental management, are also seriously undermining incredible efforts –
sometimes by the same governments - to mitigate impact of infectious diseases
such as HIV, TB and Malaria.
On this week’s 10th Anniversary
of the first African Ministerial Conference on Water, the Abuja Ministerial
Declaration on Water, and 4 years since 2008 Sharma El Sheikh Heads of State
and Government AU Summit Commitments for accelerating achievement of Water and
Sanitation Goals, African countries should have made far more progress than
they currently have
“We can’t prevent a full scale drought, but we can prepare for
lack of rain through better management of water, agricultural and food
resources – stressing that
“Lack of forward planning is not a natural disaster,” said Sankoro
In developing countries, 50 - 70 percent of
industrial, commercial and human waste is dumped untreated into waters, seriously polluting an already inadequate water supply.
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