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WATSAN EMERGENCY RESPONSE TRAINING
Red Cross National Societies from Namibia, Malawi,
Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Re-Union Island and Zambia attended Water
and Sanitation Emergency Training organized and facilitated
by the IFRC held on 24-28 November 2008, in Gobabis,
Namibia. By building upon existing National Society Water
and Sanitation capacities, the International Federation
Water and Sanitation Unit (Health and Care department in
Geneva, South Africa and Zimbabwe provided training on
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene promotion as well as other
related health problem in emergency. In the last 15 years,
the Federation has served over 2.5 million people with
developmental water and sanitation programmes. An additional
5 million people are projected to benefit by 2015.
Safe drinking water, sanitation and good hygiene are
fundamental to health, survival, growth and development.
However, these basic necessities are still a luxury for many
of the worlds poor people. Today, more than one billion
people lack access to clean water and over two billion do
not have adequate sanitation facilities. Around four million
people die each year including 4,000 children under five
years old who die every day from diseases associated with
the lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate
sanitation and poor hygiene. Added to this, in times of
disaster and crises, the urgency to meet basic water and
sanitation needs saves lives, reduces diseases and restores
dignity. The overall water and sanitation challenge is best
expressed in the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),
which have water and sanitation components.
In Namibia, the Watsan programme was established in 2007 in
the Kunene and Ohangwena regions with funding from the
European Union, Belgian RC and Swedish RC. Water and
Sanitation project is part of the community based health and
care programme of NRCS. The project main objective is to
improve the health status of rural communities by reducing
morbidity and mortality due to water and sanitation related
diseases in the Kunene region and the Opuwo district. The
project has two components, namely the installation and
rehabilitation of water pumps and the health education
components by the community based health promoters.
Watsan activities include the rehabilitation and
construction of hand dug wells, ponds, earth dams and
protection of springs. Boreholes are sometimes sunk in areas
where the water table is very low and where large number of
population has to be served. Ventilated and improved
communal pit latrines are build in crowded areas and in
surroundings where the facilities are lacking. . .
Training on Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation
Transformation (PHAST) is conducted in all areas where
Watsan infrastructures are put in place. This is to ensure
the upkeep and sustainability of facilities.
The Watsan training was facilitated by William Carter
IFRC-Geneva; Harun Joho IFRC-Southern Africa Zone and
Florence Matonodze IFRC-Zimbabwe
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