“Clean Water” in Disadvantaged Communities
Reviewing a campaign called “Pure Water for Haiti” to improve health conditions in disadvantaged communities, the U.S. Ambassador in Port-au-Prince, Janet A.Sanderson, visited a factory that produces bio-sand water filters and the school Saint Teresa of Avila, one of the [Cite Soleil] schools benefiting from this campaign, on Thursday, December 11, 2008.
According to the American diplomat, clean water and good hygiene practices such as washing hands can reduce up to 50% of the diseases transmitted by unsafe water because diarrhea is a major cause of mortality among young children in Haiti. “This campaign has reached over 60,000 children and nearly 200 schools,” said Sanderson before [about three] hundred people.
in December, 2007, the campaign has mobilized more than 30 national and international organizations, including Pure Water for the World (PWW) and Management Sciences for Health (MSH). These organizations are struggling like a devil in a basin of holy water to ensure that Haitians receive better health care and to promote access to safe drinking water. This campaign is funded by Safe Water Institute, Rotary International, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
For her part, Carolyn Crowley Meub, executive director of Pure Water for the World, said that drinking water is a priority both at the national, regional and international levels. “Polluted water consumed in Haiti is responsible for the deaths of many children through diarrheal diseases, gastro-enteritis, typhoid and other water-borne diseases,” she says.
Charles Adams, ambassador of Rotary International ([District 7190], stressed that school principals and teachers must teach students the importance of clean water for their health. “It was a real dream for us to bring drinking water to Cite Soleil. The concepts of hygiene for health are of paramount importance for the future of children of the largest slum in the country. The future of Haiti is in our hands, together, today. We can decide to eradicate diseases transmitted by unclean water, “says Adams.
For now, the “Pure Water for Haiti” campaign has been carried out in Cite Soleil, but it also reaches several other [towns and villages] across the country including Savanette, Belladre, Cornillon and Thomazeau.
Le Nouvelliste
December 11, 2008
Amos Cincir Amos Cincir
