Curbing Mortality, Inequalities through Safe Water, Sanitation
As Nigeria and the rest of the world recently marked the World Water Day, Abimbola Akosile examines how far the country has gone in ensuring adequate provision of a vital Sustainable Development Goal
Although the vital importance of safe potable water appears under-played in Nigeria, this is not the same at the global level where adequate water provision is poised to become one of the touted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an improved comprehensive version of the eight global Millennium Development Goals.
The federal government, in all sincerity, has tried through the Ministry of Water Resources headed by the gallant Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, to improve access to clean water and adequate sanitation, but the issue is yet to be tackled comprehensively for the improved livelihoods of millions of citizens. Also, the fabled 1million toilets target planned by the federal government has not yet been achieved.
Every year on March 22, the world comes together to commemorate World Water Day. However, experts and analysts believe, not much has changed in Nigeria since the Day was commemorated in 2014 and 2013.
According to reports, there were 63 million people in Nigeria (39 per cent of the population) without access to clean drinking water in 2014 and 112 million (69 per cent of the population) going without basic access to sanitation.
In 2015, however, over 60 million people (36 per cent of the population) lack access to improved water sources in Nigeria, and over 120 million (72 per cent of the population) lack access to basic sanitation, according to statistics from WaterAid Nigeria, an international organisation.
Also, access to water and sanitation are fundamental human rights and yet 748 million (about 1 in 10 people) in the world do not have access and 2.5 billion (1 in 3 people) lack access to sanitation. Preventing Newborn Deaths According to WaterAid in a recent release issued in Abuja, one in five newborn deaths in Nigeria could be prevented with safe water, sanitation and clean hands. As part of activities commemorating the 2015 World Water Day, WaterAid has launched its new four-year ‘Healthy Start’ campaign showing the devastating impact that lack of safe water and sanitation has on the health of children in developing countries.
Released in late March, the WaterAid briefing “Healthy Start: the first month of life” showed that annually nearly half a million babies die in the first month of life because they are born into unhygienic conditions and one in five deaths of newborn babies in the developing world are caused by infections strongly linked to dirty water or unhygienic conditions.
According to the briefing in Nigeria, nearly 52,000 newborn babies died from sepsis, tetanus and other infections linked to dirty water and lack of hygiene in 2013 alone.
The campaign launched as a recently released World Health Organisation (WHO) report revealed that nearly half of hospitals and clinics in Africa do not have access to clean water. And of the 58 per cent of healthcare facilities that have some access, only half are able to count on a safe and reliable supply of clean water. WHO Report The WHO report titled ‘Water, sanitation and hygiene in health care facilities: status in low and middle income countries and way forward’ showed that across 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, access to water in healthcare facilities is as low as 20 per cent.
It is the first survey of its kind and showed that in the 54 developing countries studied, 38 per cent of healthcare facilities do not have clean water and 19 per cent do not have safe toilets. Over a third (35 per cent) of hospitals and clinics did not have anywhere for staff or patients to wash their hands with soap.
It has been shown that a baby’s chances of dying in the first month of life is cut by half if a mother and her birth attendant both wash their hands before handling the baby. Yet, in Nigeria almost a third (29 per cent) of hospitals and clinics did not have access to clean water and the same percentage did not have safe toilets. The WHO report also showed that one in six (16 per cent) did not have anywhere to wash hands with soap.
Tragically for one in five babies who die in their first month in the developing world, just being washed in clean water and cared for in a clean environment by people who had washed their hands could have prevented their untimely deaths, the report noted. In Nigeria one woman in every 23 will on average lose a baby to infection during her lifetime compared to one in 7,518 in the UK, it added. Vital Briefing The WaterAid briefing highlighted the risks presented to babies by healthcare facilities that do not offer a hygienic birth environment. It outlined measures needed to ensure that every healthcare facility has clean running water, safe toilets and sinks with soap available to staff and patients. The goal for “Healthy Start” is that decision leaders and policy makers ensure that survival rates and health outcomes are improved for children by integrating water, sanitation and hygiene within their policies, activities and rhetoric, according to WaterAid. Clean Water Wash WaterAid Nigeria’s Country Representative, Dr. Michael Ojo, said: “The links between dirty hands, dirty water and infant mortality have been known for over 150 years. “Being born into unhygienic conditions condemns too many babies in the Niageria and the developing world to a tragically early and avoidable death and their parents to needless heartbreak. Tragically for these one in five babies who die in their first month in the developing world, just being washed in clean water and cared for in a clean environment by people who had washed their hands could have prevented their untimely deaths. The fact that we know what the solution is makes this an injustice waiting for action.
“The ability to keep a hospital or clinic clean is such a fundamental basic requirement of health care that you have to question whether a facility without clean running water or basic sanitation can adequately serve its patients.
“We want the global community to commit to ensuring everyone has access to safe water and sanitation by 2030 – which is an ambitious target but an achievable target. But within that commitment, we want to see healthcare facilities prioritised – no new hospitals or clinics should be built without water and sanitation.
“There must be individual and collective responsibility for ensuring hygienic conditions in health centres. We need everyone involved in leading and shaping health services to work together to ensure that the most vulnerable members of society do not have their life expectancy reduced to mere weeks because facilities are unable to meet the most basic standards of clean and safe care.”
According to Ojo, “Our children are dying needlessly. Diarrhoea is the second biggest child killer in Nigeria and nearly 100,000 children under the age of five die of diarrhoea in Nigeria every year as a result of the nation’s poor levels of access to water and sanitation. Sub-Saharan Africa ranks lowest in the world for access to improved drinking water and sanitation. This is invariably linked to the region’s under-five mortality rate which is one of the highest in the world. Global Theme The global theme for World Water Day this year is ‘Water and Sustainable Development’. The year 2015 provides an important opportunity to consolidate and build upon previous World Water Days to highlight water’s role in the sustainable development agenda, Ojo noted.
“It is also an important year for development at a global scale and it gives us the opportunity to integrate our efforts and get involved in influencing the outcomes of global debates that could achieve: an end to poverty in all its forms; the meeting of fundamental rights, tackling inequality and discrimination; an accelerated transition to 100 per cent renewable energy; and a world where everyone can participate and hold their leaders accountable.
“World Water Day is a United Nations designated global day for action to illustrate the importance of water in our lives. In 2010, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recognising the human right to water and sanitation as “essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life”, he said. To Ojo, although the rights to water and sanitation have been ratified by the Nigerian Government, these rights are not recognised in any legal framework of the country such as the Constitution.
“The lack of access to safe water, basic sanitation and hygiene harms the health of children and often leaves a lifetime legacy of disease and poverty. Where clean water, sanitation and good hygiene are lacking, improvements in health and nutrition aren’t sustainable”.
The United Nations is currently deciding on the SDGs, which will be successors to the MDGs. WaterAid is calling for a dedicated goal to deliver water and sanitation to everyone, everywhere by 2030, including in all healthcare facilities. That is a good starting point for improved global health.