Introductory blog

Access to clean and safe water should be a simple right that everyone has. In the western world we go about are daily life enjoying the benefits of clean water which can be accessed very easily from taps and not think about the fact that others in the world would consider this simple task of filling a glass of clean water direct from their home a luxury. In Africa this necessity of clean water isn't as simple as just opening a tap, many families have to walk long distances in the hope of securing safe water. 

The act of going to the toilet is taken for granted in the western world. In Africa most people don't have access to a clean toilet, for billions of people they are defecating 'daily in plastic bags, buckets, agricultural fields and public areas' Bartram et al., (2005).

Heath problems due to poor water supply and sanitation is a significant problem which causes widespread poor health and illness across Africa Tumwine, J.K. et al., (2002). 
There are still over 2.4 billion people who have poor sanitation facilities and over 946 million people who are still practicing open defecation. (http://www.un.org). Water aid has estimated that still 844 million people cannot access clean water and 289,000 children die every year from dirty water which causes diarrhoea diseases (wateraid). 

The weekly Blog. 

I aim every week to blog about my chosen topic of water and sanitation, delving deeper into these headline statistics, developing this topic over the coming weeks. I hope you will enjoy my blog.