Zambia
Context
Zambia is a large, landlocked country which is famous for its countryside and is sparsely populated by over 70 ethnic groups. It is one of the poorest countries in Southern Africa due to mismanagement, debt and disease.
Despite large fresh water resources, rainfall has declined in the last 30 years, impacting farming, the economy and nutrition.
16% of the population suffers from HIV/AIDS, malaria is widespread and life expectancy dropped to 31 years in 2001.
WaterAid estimates that only 60% of people have access to water and 49% have sanitation.
10,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoea.
What has WaterAid achieved?
- WaterAid has developed local government's capacity to carry out new responsibilities to provide water and sanitation.
- WaterAid has improved the coordination of water and sanitation projects at district and national levels by working with a range of organisations.
- WaterAid has helped poor communities to introduce a wider range of sanitation options as well as working to put these issues on the national agenda.
WaterAid's programme work in Zambia
WaterAid started working in Zambia during the 1992-4 droughts and has worked with the Department of Health to provide hand-dug wells, construct latrines and provide education.
WaterAid also supports integrated water and sanitation projects as part of water, sanitation and hygiene education (WASHE) policy.
WaterAid has started working with larger 'focus area' projects and provides composting latrines to create renewable compost.
Beauty in Zambia Beauty, from Kayola village in Zambia, describes losing her two-year-old son to diarrhoea and how she now lives in fear that it will take another.
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Price points
- £7.25 could pay for a bag of cement to build a latrine slab
- £12 could pay to support a rural household to construct a pit latrine that will serve more than six people
- £20 could pay to train a pump caretaker for two days
- £65 could pay for a bicycle for a community health worker
Case study
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Credit: WaterAid /
John Spaull |
Rosemary Mande is the chairlady for hygiene in Sichiyanda village:
We regularly promote good hygiene. Diseases like diarrhoea have decreased here because of the good hygiene we are now using. Before I just used to use the bush, but since having the latrine it is so much cleaner. Being able to do this makes us feel really good and positive about our futures.
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Zambia 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
10,000
