78 million children face risks from WASH-related diseases

By Kasim Isa Muhammad

Kanempress

22nd March, 2023

The United Nations Children’s Education Fund UNICEF says 78 million children are at the highest risk from a convergence of three water-related threats, to include inadequate Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene, WASH related diseases; and climate hazards

The UNICEF Nigeria Chief of WASH Dr Jane Bevan who made this known in Bauchi said a new analysis indicates that one-third of children, do not have access to basic water at home, and two-thirds do not have basic sanitation services.

Dr Jane Bevan said hand hygiene is also limited, with three-quarters of children unable to wash their hands due to a lack of water and soap at home.

According to her, this resulted in making Nigeria, being one of the ten countries that carry the heaviest burden of child deaths from diseases caused by inadequate WASH, such as diarrhoeal diseases.

She noted that Nigeria also ranks second out of 163 countries globally, with the highest risk of exposure to climate and environmental threats.

According to her, the groundwater levels are also dropping, requiring some communities to dig wells twice as deep as just a decade ago and at the same time, rainfall has become more erratic and intense, leading to floods that contaminate scarce water supplies.

The UNICEF Nigeria Chief of WASH emphasized the need for relevant organizations to rapidly scale up investment in the sector, including global climate financing, and strengthen climate resilience in the WASH sector and communities.