WATER & SANITATION
884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population.
2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population.
1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 5000 deaths a day.
The simple act of washing hands with soap and water can reduce diarrhoeal diseases by over 40%. (British Medical Journal)
The integrated approach of providing water, sanitation and hygiene reduces the number of deaths caused by diarrhoeal diseases by an average of 65%. (WHO)
Water-related disease is the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after acute respiratory infections like tuberculosis.
The weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads is commonly 44 pounds!
2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population.
1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 5000 deaths a day.
The simple act of washing hands with soap and water can reduce diarrhoeal diseases by over 40%. (British Medical Journal)
The integrated approach of providing water, sanitation and hygiene reduces the number of deaths caused by diarrhoeal diseases by an average of 65%. (WHO)
Water-related disease is the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after acute respiratory infections like tuberculosis.
The weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads is commonly 44 pounds!
EDUCATION
According to UNESCO's Regional overview on sub-Saharan Africa, in 2000 52% of children were enrolled in primary schools, the lowest enrollment rate of any region. UNESCO also reported marked gender inequalities: In most parts of Africa there is much higher enrollment by boys; in some there are more girls, due to sons having to stay home and tend to the family farm. Africa has more than 40 million children, almost half the school-age child population, receiving no schooling. Two-thirds of these are girls. The USAID Center reports that as of 2005, 40% of school-age children in Africa do not attend primary school and there are still 46 million school-age African children who have never stepped into a classroom.
The main reason for the low education rates in Africa is the lack of proper schooling facilities and unequal opportunity for education across countries. Many schools across Africa find it hard to employ teachers due to the low pay and lack of suitable people. This is particularly true for schools in remote areas. Most people who manage to receive education would prefer to move to big cities or even overseas where more opportunities and higher pay await. Thus, there will be an overly large class sizes and high average number of students per teacher in a school. Moreover, the teachers are usually those unqualified with few teaching aids and poor textbook provision. Due to this, children attending schools in rural areas usually attain poorer results in standardised tests compared to their urban counterparts. This can be seen in the reports given by the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ). Those taking the tests in rural areas score much lower than those in small towns and big cities. This shows a lack of equal education opportunity given to children from different parts of the same country.
The main reason for the low education rates in Africa is the lack of proper schooling facilities and unequal opportunity for education across countries. Many schools across Africa find it hard to employ teachers due to the low pay and lack of suitable people. This is particularly true for schools in remote areas. Most people who manage to receive education would prefer to move to big cities or even overseas where more opportunities and higher pay await. Thus, there will be an overly large class sizes and high average number of students per teacher in a school. Moreover, the teachers are usually those unqualified with few teaching aids and poor textbook provision. Due to this, children attending schools in rural areas usually attain poorer results in standardised tests compared to their urban counterparts. This can be seen in the reports given by the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ). Those taking the tests in rural areas score much lower than those in small towns and big cities. This shows a lack of equal education opportunity given to children from different parts of the same country.
ORPHANS
To the tragedy of the 17 million people who have lost their lives to AIDS in Africa, add the 12 million orphaned children left behind. Traumatized by the death of parents, stigmatized through association with the disease and often thrown into desperate poverty by the loss of bread-winners, this growing army of orphans -- defined as children who have lost one or both parents -- is straining the traditional extended family and overwhelming national health and education systems in the most severely affected countries.
SELF SUSTAINING
Most Africans live in rural areas, and most rely on agriculture for survival. We work with rural communities to increase farm production, and to encourage off-farm businesses. We provide practical support to rural communities to allow them to produce enough food to feed themselves and trade their way out of poverty.
1100 Grand Avenue Schofield, WI 54476 ~ 715.574.7785
