3.79 million people don't have clean water.
3.79 million people don't have clean water.
75.4 million people don't have a decent toilet.
75.4 million people don't have a decent toilet.
That's 45% of the population.
Over 1,000 children under the age of five die a year from diarrhoea.
Over 1,000 children under the age of five die a year from diarrhoea.
Caused by dirty water and poor toilets.
Rights for tea-pickers
In a ground-breaking initiative, we are working together with local organisation IDEA to bring clean water and decent toilets to tea-picking communities.
Tea pickers are among the poorest people in Bangladesh. Plantation owners are legally responsible for their workers' health and education, but facilities are often poor. People rely on hand-dug wells and streams for drinking water, and have no choice but to go to the toilet in the open.
“The garden authorities didn’t want to let IDEA or WaterAid in,” says Mrittunjoy Karmi, elected head of the tea-pickers’ council in the Gulni Tea Estate near Sylhet. “They didn’t want us to be educated.”
We are helping tea garden owners and managers to see that improved water, toilets and hygiene keep workers healthier.