More than 220 million children and their families in Africa lack water.
Impact
The impact is staggering: 58% of children in Eastern and Southern Africa and 31% of children in Western and Central Africa live in areas with high or extremely high water vulnerability. These children are more likely to miss school to fetch water. When droughts and floods affect agricultural food production, they are more likely to suffer from malnutrition and stunted growth.
Due to lack of sanitation facilities and contaminated water quality, they are more likely to get sick when infectious diseases and infections spread. In addition to affecting the health and well-being of children, insecure water resources can also limit economic growth and force people to migrate. The situation will only get worse as climate change leads to unpredictable extreme weather patterns, and population growth leads to increased water demand and increased competition to put pressure on water resources.
The reality is grim: Africa’s investment in climate-resilient water infrastructure is currently far below the level required to ensure water security for the people of the African continent.
The solution
The African Development Bank estimates that US$64 billion should be invested each year to realize the vision of water security for all in Africa by 2025; however, the actual investment amount is between US$1 and 19 billion per year. Urgent action is needed to change the investment outlook for climate-resilient water and sanitation services in Africa. The COVID 19 pandemic has brought an additional sense of urgency, with billions of people unable to use handwashing facilities at home.
Development partners, donors, and the private sector have the opportunity to provide technical and long-term financial commitments through public-private partnerships and innovative co-financing mechanisms to support sustainable water and sanitation investment.
with information from: https://indiaeducationdiary.in/investing-in-climate-resilient-water-and-sanitation-in-africa-cannot-wait/
