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Impact
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© UNICEF Nigeria |
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A school girl drinks from a hand water pump provided in schools with UNICEF support |
- Since 2002, close to 4.3 million people have benefited from improved water supply in 36 states and FCT. UNICEF also supported the construction of about 25,000 household latrines in communities, thus improving hygiene practices of up to 250,000 people.
- Over 600 schools have been provided with ventilated improved latrines with separate provision for boys and girls and hand washing facilities comprising of plastic buckets, bowls, kettles and soap. About 500 water sources have also been provided in primary schools and child care centres. Thousands of pupils throughout the country have benefited from these equipments.
- The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programme has impacted positively on child health by providing a safer environment to support reduction of morbidity related water-borne diseases. Water sources and latrines have also been provided in health centres to facilitate improved health care services. The programme has also reduced the workload on children and women who traditionally have the responsibility of taking care of household water supply.
- Working with communities and children has proved to be beneficial in ensuring effective management of the water sources both in the schools and within the communities.
- Over 520 School Environmental Health Clubs are functional in schools throughout the country and more than 250,000 student members are actively involved in hygiene and sanitation promotion and activities, including cleaning of the school compound and maintaining the water sources and keeping latrines clean and tidy.
- Skills development, training of community resource persons and artisans as well as the village level operation and maintenance set up in communities has contributed to increasing the functionality of water points. For instance, the functionality of water points in focus communities of Kwara State has improved from 53 to 98 per cent. In Kebbi State, the functionality of boreholes has improved from 12 to 88 per cent. Zamfara State is reporting 100 per cent functionality of its water points.
- Developed capacity of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency staff at State level supported policy development and contributed to the domestication of the Framework in some States.
- A major success of UNICEF’s water, sanitation and hygiene programme is its contribution to the eradication of Guinea Worm in Nigeria. A total of 73 cases of Guinea Worm were reported in 2007 as compared to 495 in 2004. In 1988, the first national case search recorded 653,620 cases in almost all States throughout Nigeria.
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