Almost half of the people in Tanzania do not have access to safe water. Typically, women and children spend over two hours a day collecting water, and up to seven hours in remote areas.

Access to toilets is even lower – at just a quarter of the population. This is particularly problematic to health in densely populated, unplanned settlements.

These issues have a big impact on health, with 20,000 children under five dying each year from preventable diarrhoeal diseases. There are wider impacts too – on education, livelihoods and wellbeing.

We have been working in Tanzania for three decades, providing communities with life-changing safe water and toilets. During this time, we have engaged with decision-makers to influence policy and encourage investment.

As in all the countries where we work, we use simple, low-cost technologies that will be more sustainable long-term. These include a new type of pump designed to tackle the problem of emptying latrines in slums.

We have also used innovative mapping technology to record the location and condition of water points across the country. This will provide valuable data for use in both our service delivery and advocacy work.

In Tanzania last year we reached:

• 75,000 people with safe water
• 25,000 people with improved sanitation.