When many people think of basic health needs and health education they tend to think of medications, checkups, and immunizations. Our organization helps provide a more essential element to surviving and thriving too though - water.
By the year 2025, more than half of the world will live in a water-stressed area. At present, two billion individuals drink contaminated water because they have no other source. The feces permitting their water transmit diseases including cholera, polio, typhoid fever, dysentery, and diarrhea. Combine that with the 785 million people with no access to drinking water and the 144 million who can only access surface water, and you quickly understand the need for organizations like Village Hope International.
These situations do not mean that villages obtain the hot and cold running water you might think of when you turn on the tap. These locations around the world use communal water sources that may be within a 30 minute trip of their home. About 90 percent of the world population has access at least to this basic service, but the other ten percent need your help.
Safe drinking water allows the population of an area to properly hydrate, cook healthy food, and properly bathe and clean themselves and their homes. All of these things contribute to good health.
In developing countries, 22 percent of health care facilities remain without water service. Their villages also lack sanitation (21 percent) and waste management services (22 percent).
A central well with a hand pump in these villages and outlying areas can transform lives. Healthier populations can contribute to economic growth. This helps reduce poverty in the area. Centralized water services that provide people quick access to water enable them to use their time more productively. When they do not have to spend large amounts of time traveling to find water, they can spend time on schoolwork or gainful employment or tend crops to grow food.
While serving these areas with water services, organizations like Village Hope International also provide immunizations and medicines as well as teaching basic skills like hand washing, hygiene, and health education. While the UN General Assembly recognized water as a human right in 2010, much work remains to fulfill that right.
A combination of climate change and population growth will increase water scarcity unless we take action with your help. We can help villages implement water reuse systems to safely treat and reuse wastewater for crop irrigation to make this precious resource last longer and go further. These implementations use the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines to develop and implement safe water reuse programs globally.
You can help. Contact us to find out how you can contribute to families around the world having safe drinking water.