The United States has launched a $2m Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services activity to improve water resource management, increase access to proper sanitation, and encourage good hygiene behaviors in the Northwest states of Kebbi and Sokoto.
The new USAID Improved Sustainability of Integrated WASH Services (iWASH) activity will help state agencies reduce water-borne diseases and associated socio-economic challenges through an innovative, integrated approach, focusing on improving access to WASH services in health centers, schools, and underserved communities.
USAID Development Outreach and Communications Specialist, Amarachi Obinna-Nnadi, said the activity will help Kebbi and Sokoto states provide better community WASH services and contribute to improved health outcomes.
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According to UNICEF, fewer than 40 percent of Sokoto and Kebbi residents have access to reliable basic water and sanitation services and up to 70,000 Nigerians die from preventable waterborne diseases a year.
The two-year, $2 million iWASH activity will rehabilitate water points, construct new solar-powered boreholes, build latrines and handwashing stations, and install an innovative new online remote surveillance system known as PumpView.
In addition to promoting good watershed management, providing improved water services, the activity will market and advocate for good hygiene behaviors such as hand washing before and after eating, properly storing water, and thoroughly cleaning implements for preparing and consuming foodstuffs.
iWASH will also help government institutions and communities coordinate sanitation and hygiene processes and water resources management to maintain the operation and maintenance of sanitary facilities and engage the private sector through social enterprise marketing to communities vulnerable to sanitation-related diseases.
(Editor: Omor Bazuaye)
