Inadequate access to clean water and sanitation is the reason why hundreds of thousands die in Africa the organization Good Governance Africa (GGA) announced on Monday.
“Nearly 320 000 children under the age of five died of easily preventable and treatable diarrhoeal diseases in Africa in 2012, the latest figures available,” said Kate van Niekerk, a GGA researcher.
“This was more than the rest of the world combined, according to the Africa Survey 2014, to be released October 28th by Good Governance Africa in Johannesburg.”
The Africa Survey 2014 is a comprehensive annual collection of social, political and economic indicators for the continent’s 55 countries compiled from a wide range of sources. GGA obtained information for this press release from the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, the UN’s children’s fund.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) alone accounted for 15 per cent, or 47 390, of these deaths. It also accounted for over a third of all cholera cases in Africa in 2012, at 33 661.
The spread of diarrhoeal diseases is directly related to a lack of access to clean water and sanitation, medication and healthcare services.
The share of the population in the DRC with access to clean drinking water remained almost unchanged between 2005 and 2012 at 46.5 per cent, making it the country with the least access to clean water in Africa.
In addition, only 31 per cent of the population in the DRC had access to sanitation that protected people from contact with faecal matter in 2012. The average for Africa was only slightly better at 33 per cent.
“Clean water and adequate sanitation are essential to eradicate easily preventable water-borne diseases that are claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of children. African governments need to invest more in water and sanitation infrastructure to increase access to these basic services.”
