Namibia Red Cross Society - News and Reports

	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 world’s 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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