Still in many areas of Africa, Women and girls are responsible for transporting 90 % of the water consumed by the community on their heads and back. They use an average of five hours a day to go looking agua. They do it even if it is unsafe and on the way they face dangers of all kinds.
Lack of access to agua It limits the educational opportunities of girls and disables women for incorporation into the productive fabric of their communities, since all has as a priority to travel kilometers every day so that their families have agua.
To top it off, the story shows that when the high levels of malnutrition They combine with Mortal disease outbreaks like him anger o to diarrheathe infant mortality increases spectacular and tragicly. When the agua It is not available or is not safe, the risks for girls who carry it multiply exponentially.
Water is a treasure for many girls and women
This year, the World Water Day which is celebrated on March 22, has as its theme the preservation of glaciers, highlighting the urgent need to protect them and ensure the resources of agua sweet to guarantee a stable supply for millions of people who depend on their sources of agua For human consumption, agriculture and energy.
Los Glaciers store approximately 70 % of agua Sweet in the world, which makes them the largest nature reserve of this substance of the Earth. However, Climate change is accelerating its melting, altering the natural water cycle and increasing the frequency of extreme weather phenomena such as floods and droughts, affecting the health and survival of millions of people.
According to the United Nations, 2.2 billion people live without drinking water in a safe manner and women and girls are the most affected by scarcity.
Women and girls support the greatest load of the worldwide worldwide because they are usually they responsible for transporting water to their homes in the most vulnerable contexts. Agua That, in many cases, it is not even potable and entails diseases that suffer once again the most vulnerable people.
It is estimated that women and girls dedicate 250 million hours to collect water every day. This daily task takes time and energy for other activities and prevents them from being with their family, going to school and performing income -generating activities to improve their lives.
The lack of water especially harms women and girls
The lack of agua And sanitation also harms women and girls in other ways:
Menstrual health and education
Girls who attend the school to adolescence are more likely to abandon it at the beginning of menstruationunless your school has agua Drinking, latrines, sanitary supplies and support for the change in hygiene habits. Helping young people manage their menstrual health not only implies providing adequate facilities, but also addressing social norms.
Maternal and neonatal health
The lack of agua drinkable, proper sanitary facilities and hygiene contributes to high rates of disease and mortality between mothers and newborns in developing countries. In areas where World Vision works, half of the health centers lack agua Drinking and 5 out of 6 do not even have basic hand washing facilities.
“Unfortunately, year after year we celebrate this event with the same message: the agua clean is essential for life and yet About 1,000 boys and girls die every day due to diarrheal diseases associated with contaminated drinking waterpoor sanitation or bad hygiene practices, ”explains Eloisa Molina, Communication Director of World Vision.
“We know how to bring drinking water closer to the communities that lack itbut it takes economic investment and political will to prevent us from still attending thousands of deaths due to consumption of agua no potable”.
A case between thousands: Mahana and Fídaussou
The nine -year -old Mahana sisters, and Fídaussou, of twelve, collect, daily, agua From a well almost a kilometer from his house in southwest Niger. Firdaoussou, which is the biggest, makes this trip 12 times a day, which means that it does not attend school and spends its time helping with home tasks. “I don’t play”, says Fídaussou, whose name means sky or paradise.
“I only help my mother.” The birthday has determined its luck in life. And grow in a place without agua Drinking has made his life even worse. Women and girls from all over the world like Fídaussou They walk an average of 6 kilometers per day to carry 20 kilos of water.