african water crisis by natistyles

2.2 million people die each year from diarrhea-related disease

In Africa two out of five people lack clean water

African water crisis

84 percent of water related deaths children ages 0~14

On average humans can only live up to 3 or 5 days without water

Fifty percent of all hospital beds in the world are occupied by patients suffering from water-related diseases.

Health

The lack of water can be a conflict which contributes mostly to health. Lacking on water may include diseases such as... waterborne diseases including malaria, typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery and diarrhea, and can lead to diseases such as trachoma, plague, typhus which result most of the time to death

Because of this, the impact of droughts, floods, and desertification is greater in terms of both African economic loss and human life loss due to crop failure and starvation. Additionally, lack of water causes many Africans to use wastewater for crop growth, then causing a large number of people to consume foods that can contain chemicals or disease-causing organisms transferred by the wastewater. Thus, for the extremely high number of African areas suffering from water scarcity issues, investing in development means sustainably withdrawing from clean freshwater sources, ensuring food security by expanding irrigation areas, and effectively managing the effects of climate change.

In most African societies, women are seen as the collectors, managers, and guardians of water, especially within the domestic sphere that includes household chores, cooking, washing, and child rearing.Because of these traditional gender labor roles, women are forced to spend around sixty percent of each day collecting water. For African women, this often means carrying a jerrycan for an average of six kilometers each day. As a result of this, many women are unable to hold professional employment.Additionally, this prevents many young girls from attending school and receiving an education. They are expected to not only aid their mothers in water retrieval, but to also help with the demands of household chores

Agriculture

Poverty is directly related to the accessibility of clean drinking water- without it, the chances of breaking out of the poverty trap is extremely slim. The social and economic consequences of a lack of clean water penetrate into realms of education, opportunities for gainful employment, physical strength and health, agricultural and industrial development, and thus the overall productive potential of a community, nation, and/or region. Because of this, the UN estimates that Sub-Saharan Africa alone loses 40 billion potential work hours per year collecting water.

Development

Education and work

http://www.reliefforafrica.org/