WASH

The overall goal of the Water and Sanitation Programme at Ages Considered is to have improved health status of the peri-urban and rural poor people in the Country through reduced incidences of Water and Sanitation related diseases as a result of improved and increased access to clean and safer water for domestic use. We are committed to ensure that all persons enjoy that fundamental right.

It is poor people who carry the greatest burden of poor sanitation. The poorest 20 percent of the population is 13.5 times more likely to defecate in the open than the wealthiest 20 percent, according to the World Bank. Water and sanitation are essential for life and health, but they are also essential for dignity, empowerment and prosperity.

Inadequate hygiene coupled with the conjunctive use of the shallow subsurface as both a source of water and repository of faecal matter pose substantial risks to human health in low-income countries undergoing rapid urbanization. Water and sanitation are human rights, fundamental to every child and adult. But in Uganda, poor sanitation and hygiene, as well as unequal access to safe drinking water, make thousands of children very sick and at risk of death.

Diarrhoea alone, one of three major childhood killers in Uganda, kills 33 children every day. In most cases, children get the disease by drinking unsafe water or coming into contact with contaminated hands — theirs or parents or caregivers – that have not been washed with soap. In Uganda, nearly a tenth of the population practices open defecation, and two thirds of households do not wash with soap.

The lack of local finance is one of the factors impeding improved access to adequate WASH services and facilities. Many households do not have the funds for the construction of improved sanitation facilities. Furthermore, many entrepreneurs do not have the financial capital required to set up business in the WASH sector.

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