Bangladesh
Context
Bangladesh, located between India and Burma on the Bay of Bengal, is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
More than 160 million people are crowded onto its deltas and its low lying lands are subject to severe monsoon flooding which every year destroys livelihoods and displaces huge numbers of people.
- Water-related diseases are responsible for 24% of all deaths.
- Every year, gastroenteritis and diarrhoeal diseases kill 110,000 children below the age of five.
- Arsenic in water sources is a huge problem. It occurs naturally and has been found in 61 of Bangladesh's 64 regions, putting 30 million at risk.
What has WaterAid achieved?
- Last year WaterAid helped 259,000 people gain access to water and 536,000 people gain access to sanitation in Bangladesh.
- WaterAid helped the government develop the National Sanitation Strategy, designed to achieve universal access to sanitation by 2015.
- WaterAid received the National Sanitation Award from the government after coordinating the National Sanitation Campaign along with other NGOs.
WaterAid's programme work in Bangladesh
WaterAid has been working in Bangladesh since 1986 and has a total of 21 partners covering 19 rural districts, three city corporations and one municipality.
WaterAid's urban water projects help desperately poor communities living in the slums of Dhaka, Narayangonj, Chittagong and Khulna to establish tubewells or communal waterpoints.
Bangladesh country strategy 2011-2016
To find out more, click on the following links:
Walk the Talk: The story of ASEH |
Price points
- £6 could pay for a mason to construct a family latrine
- £10 could pay for three days training for one hygiene education volunteer
- £20 could pay to rehabilitate a village water point
- £75 could pay for a locally manufactured rainwater harvesting system for a family
- £180 could pay for a composting latrine
Case study
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Credit: WaterAid /
Juthika Howlader |
Monwara lives in Baganbari slum, Dhaka, Bangladesh with around 200 other families. The slum has been in existence for 25 years.
She says:
"Previously there were just the hanging latrines and we had a lot of difficulties.
"The water container would drop down into the filthy water and you could slip too. When the children used the latrine we had to hold them in case they fell.
People think the new sanitation blocks and the waterpoints are good value for money. We're full of happiness now we have clean water and latrines.
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Bangladesh Sources:
World Bank (2011) World Development Indicators database - databank.worldbank.org, WHO / UNICEF (2010) Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report 2010, UNDP (2011), Human Development Report 2011 NB. Official statistics tend to understate the extent of water and sanitation problems, sometimes by a large factor. There are not sufficient resources available for accurate monitoring of either population or coverage. Varying definitions of water and sanitation coverage are used and national figures mask large regional differences in coverage.
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What we do
148.7m
34,000
