3.7 million people don't have a decent toilet.
3.7 million people don't have a decent toilet.
That's more than 8 in every 10 people.
Around 3 in 10 people don't have clean water.
Around 3 in 10 people don't have clean water.
That's 1.3 million people still without this essential.
Over 700 children under 5 die a year from diarrhoea.
Over 700 children under 5 die a year from diarrhoea.
Caused by dirty water and poor toilets.
Clean water after Ebola
Yeartee Barteh is a cleaner at the Pipeline Health Centre in Paynesville, Monrovia.
She used to walk to a well every morning because the clinic did not have its own water supply. But often the well did not have enough either, so she would pay children to find water elsewhere for her.
During the Ebola outbreak, Yeartee’s job became much harder and more dangerous. She had to clean constantly to prevent the spread of the disease, but it was hard to find the amount of water she needed to do so. The chlorine-treated water she used was so strong it made her skin peel.
One day, she was sent home and quarantined – an Ebola patient had stayed at the clinic and her managers feared she may have contracted it too. “21 days passed, I was alright,” she says. But others were not so fortunate. “The patient died, and the doctor who treated them also died."
By bringing running water to the health centre, we have been able to make life easier and safer for everyone in the community. Yeartee is excited: “Drawing water is my greatest challenge. What I need to make my job better is a good running water system because water is everything.”