Water For People (WFP) has formed a partnership called "Clean Water for Schools" which will improve access to clean water and sanitation facilities in Vietnam’s Kien Giang Province.
Working with CARE Vietnam and the Kien Giang Provincial Education Department, WFP will develop strategies for the construction of toilets and the facilitation of hygiene education activities for children in primary and secondary schools in and around the U Minh Thuong National Park buffer zone.
WFP is an independent, Denver-based humanitarian organization that helps people worldwide improve their quality of life by helping to provide communities in developing nations access to clean drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene education projects.
Assessment findings in Kien Giang Province indicate that the main health problems of school children in the area include, stomach aches, diarrhea, headaches, and dengue fever. Almost all of these illnesses are water and sanitation related problems, which have a negative impact on health and education. Garbage disposal is also a concern at most schools. It is usually disposed of by throwing it into nearby ponds or canals.
Over the next 18 months, WFP’s "Clean Water for Schools" program will implement the design and construction of water and sanitation facilities in 37 schools within the buffer zone. The direct beneficiaries will be the 4,650 school children who attend these schools.
"WFP identifies the expertise to assist areas that are suffering from no lack of access to clean drinking water and functioning sanitation facilities," said Steve Werner, executive director of WFP. "Uncollected garbage, overflowing latrines and non-functional residential and municipal drainage pipes plague poor people in urban areas. Unimproved, hand-dug wells only serve to spread disease and discomfort in many communities that lack choices, options and a voice in decisions that shape their lives."
The "charity of choice" of the American Water Works Association, WFP has a history of working with the water profession in identifying and assisting developing countries in building clean water, sanitation and hygiene education programs. More information about these programs are available at www.waterforpeople.org.
Source: Water For People
