The clean water shortage in Africa will claim more lives than Covid-19, an international charity warns.
Two million people are expected to die from water-borne diseases this year – a death toll of 3,000 a day – says WellBoring.
Nigel Linacre, chairman of WellBoring, said: “Covid-19 is a huge problem in the world today, but it isn’t the biggest. By the end of this year, Covid-19 may have claimed half a million lives globally, and if it weren’t for lockdown, deaths might have spiralled into the millions.
“Imagine there is a problem that is set to kill millions of people this year, but could easily be fixed. You would expect massive action to reduce numbers fast. But it isn’t happening so much. And it’s mostly far away, in Africa, Asia and the Americas, where, it seems, lives matter less. But there is a solution.”
WellBoring is a UK charity created eight years ago with foundations in the USA, Germany and West Africa. It has got safe water to more than 100 Kenyan primary schools, which represents about 1 per cent of Kenya’s water problem. The charity’s mission is to drill small boreholes into aquifers and create wells operated by a simple handpump.
Creating wells at schools means more pupils attend and school results improve. During the coronavirus pandemic, soap was bought in bulk and distributed to nearly 20,000 households at wells by the charity’s supporters.
Each well costs just £5,000 and improves about 1,000 lives. During this time, we are also campaigning to raise funds to buy soap. A donation of £3 will help protect a family at risk of contracting Covid-19.
Working together, engaging local communities who become partners in the solution, WellBoring aims to help hundreds of millions of people to get safe water, making a difference for decades.
For more visit www.wellboring.org.