Help with Food
Access to clean drinking water and sanitation - still the most important factor for development. Those countries with large portions of population that lack access to safe water and sanitation show slower economic growth than those have it. Unsafe water and sanitation is the cause of one tenth of all cases of sickness globally.
Urban populations have increased by 53 per cent since 1990, but access to urban sanitation grew by only 2 per cent. This cause big problems when countries and cities are not prepared for these fast pace changes. A poorly developed country, like Haiti, is a good example for that. Access to clean drinking water and sanitation are far and beyond even in the national capital Port-au-Prince.
At the seven schools and the children home sponsored by Star of Hope we always tried to supply clean drinking water. At all projects we have now increased the efforts for this very important issue. At all the projects we work the children, staff and villagers now have access to safe drinking water, but further improvements might be needed.
The need for safe water in Haiti has been extra important since the cholera outbreak in October 2010. With still many new cases of cholera two years later, there is a big risk that this will increase further after that tropical storm Isaac passed over Haiti over the weekend. There is also a major risk for other waterborne diseases. Is Haiti prepared for another outbreak?
At the time of writing the over all damages seems less than when Hurricane Thomas passed over Haiti in 2010 and left 20 people dead. However, some of the Star of Hope projects and schools are affected. Details are sketchy for me; at least a couple schools lost their roof. And many families close to other schools live in very poor houses and have moved in to the schools. Lets hope that damages are limited.
Resolutions adopted by the United Nations in 2010 and 2011 recognize access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right. While several nations have implemented this right and worked proactively to increase water and sanitation coverage, some nations
still have chosen not to recognize this right.
But who is to pay for water and sanitation supply?
