Ethiopia
More than 80 percent of all disease in Ethiopia is attributed to poor access to clean water and sanitation.
Projects funded: 2,077
At any given time, more than half of the country’s population of 75 million people is suffering from an unnecessary water-related disease.
More than 250,000 children under the age of five die each year from diarrhea.
Access to safe drinking water in Ethiopia is at critically low levels and in rural parts of the country where A Glimmer of Hope focuses its efforts just one in three people have access to clean water while just 13 percent has access to adequate sanitation services.
People do their laundry and bathe in the same places that they water their animals and get their drinking water.
Latrines are virtually non-existent in rural communities with defecation taking place in fields, bushes or along drainage ditches. A simple long-drop latrine can radically reduce the amount of fecal matter that gets into the water supply.
Increasingly, A Glimmer of Hope is funding multi-purpose water projects that include components such as: protected faucets for drinking water; showers; latrines; basins for washing clothes, dishes and utensils; and, separate drinking troughs for animals. Beyond the issues of health, poor access to clean water also has a detrimental impact on development. In particular, water scarcity severely affects the lives of women as female family members are traditionally responsible for water collection.
Collecting water is a back-breaking chore that saps women’s energy, diminishes their health and restricts their involvement in productive activities and community affairs.
Most women in rural Ethiopia spend hours a day collecting water from distant and polluted sources. Many girls never get an opportunity to go to school because the responsibility of collecting enough water to keep their families alive takes precedence.
