Government Partnership
Nigeria’s Water Crisis: Considering the current situation in Nigeria backed by empirical data, it is abundantly clear that diarrheal diseases, especially Cholera and Typhoid Fever are prevalent in rural communities due to inadequate provision of safe drinking water.
According to the recent Multiple Indicator Cluster Strategy (MCIS 5) conducted by the Government of Nigeria in 2016/2017, only 2.4% of households using unimproved drinking water sources have appropriate water treatment methods, indicating that a very high percentage of these household members are exposed to drinking water contaminated with E.Coli.
According to Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) as of December 2018, 50,719 suspected Cholera cases within 956 laboratories confirmed 1136 deaths from 247 LGAs in 30 states compared to 4221 suspected cases and 107 deaths during the same period in 2017. This shows that a lot still needs to be done in the area of drinking water availability and safety at the household level.
Provision of safe and affordable drinking water is a critical component of the overall healthcare delivery in any nation. Unfortunately, access to safe drinking water remains a challenge to a large number of Nigerians. This situation has led to an escalating rate of water-related diseases, particularly Cholera, Typhoid Fever, Polio, and other gastrointestinal ailments accounting for significant morbidity and mortality rates among the vulnerable groups and negatively affecting the health indices of Nigeria.
Governments do not work in isolation to meet the basic needs of their people, but rather, they work with an extensive network of private, public, and non-profit organizations.
Previously, the Federal Ministry of Health Nigeria (FMoH) in Partnership with EnvironFocus conducted an assessment in order to provide evidence-based information to enable humanitarian actors to gain updated insights into how hospitals, schools and IDP camps are functioning in terms of safe water provision in Nigeria, and whether a donor-based intervention system can be used to provide assistance to affected communities, especially those prone to Cholera.
Despite growing interests for Cholera prevention and treatment programs, and its preference among stakeholders due to its cost effectiveness and economic benefits, the fragile and fast changing situation in Nigeria calls for close monitoring of hospitals, schools, IDP camps and Cholera-prone communities as it still remains uncertain where conditions are favourable for the introduction of water filtration products and how the beneficiaries within such areas will respond to the use of these to achieve the desired impact.
In August 2019, EnvironFocus signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Food and Nutrition under the Federal Ministry of Health Nigeria to run a pilot project titled: “Improving Nigeria’s Health Index through Safe Drinking Water.”
The mission of the pilot project is to provide safe water to the beneficiaries thus halting the outbreak of Cholera. The project will distribute Lifestraw Family and Lifestraw Community water-filtration product models; Lifestraw’s microbiological water purifiers provides instant access to safe, clean drinking water. The objective of the project is to collect data that will help provide a baseline to develop standard guidelines on household water treatment and safe water storage practices in Nigeria.
The target beneficiaries of this pilot project are:
1. Selected Cholera epidemic-prone communities (including schools and IDP camps) in Nigeria.
2. Selected Federal Hospitals in the country.
Training for the pilot project will be in two phases:
Phase 1: Training of 21 Federal Team Members on the basic principles of installation, usage and monitoring of the Lifestraw technology.
Phase 2: Training of 70 personnel (4 Facility Staff and 6 Community Volunteers in each selected state) for the maintenance and monitoring process at the various points of installation.
The funding component of the project shall include but not be limited to the following:
1. Provision of at least 126 units of the Lifestraw technology (41 units of Lifestraw Community and 84 units of Lifestraw Family).
2. Training of 91 personnel (21 Federal Team and 70 Health Facilities and Communities Volunteers).
3. Provision of accessions for maintenance of technology.
4. Quarterly monitoring by the Federal Team members to the sites.
5. Logistics (hall, training manual, transportation of the equipment, printing and photocopying of questionnaires, courier services, etc.).
6. Daily subsistence allowance (DSA) for both the volunteers and federal team.
7. Post project assessment and evaluation work.
This partnership make a meaningful contribution towards achieving the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The following SDGs will be addressed via this project:
SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.
SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
SDG 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals.
Partnering with EnvironFocus and the Federal Ministry of Health Nigeria:
EnvironFocus is looking to secure implementation and funding partners so that further necessary actions can be kick-started.
The Federal Ministry and EnvironFocus will make all of its resources (media, network, etc.) available for this project. Participating businesses will gain maximum exposure!
To optimize the level of participation and collaboration, partners are invited to join FMoH and EnvironFocus in the form of physical participation by covering locations where you have ongoing operations.
Help us develop a welfare structure that is currently non-existent in Nigeria. This collaborative effort will be beneficial to all involved.
Interested in partnering on this initiative? Send us an email to: project@environfocus.com