“Since we have clean water at school, I don’t get sick often anymore.”
Lack of access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene puts the health of children such as Nisa and Luon at risk. UNICEF’s support to national and sub-national authorities in Viet Nam is triggering the ripple effect of bringing safe water to remote schools.
- English
- Tiếng Việt
After filling the bucket with water from the blue barrel, Luon, a 10-year-old Mong girl, started walking home. Shoulder pulled to one side to withstand the bucket’s weight; her slippers treaded carefully on dirt road so as not to fall.
“Every day, we must carry water from the neighbor’s house for daily use. My family uses about six or seven buckets of water a day,” Luon said.
Luon is the oldest among four children in Sen’s family. Among all family members, she feels the closest to her mom. Her dream is to become a tailor whose first piece of clothing is for Sen.
“It is hard to not have water at home. Some days, we are in a rush to use the bathroom, but forgot to carry water home,” Sen said. “We don’t know if the water from our neighbor is safe to use. We just use it.”
Their province, Dien Bien, is in the Northern Mountains of Viet Nam, a region with severely low access to safe water and sanitation, especially among ethnic minorities. Without water at home, most often, women and girls like Luon and Sen are responsible for collecting water.
UNICEF works with the Government and prioritized provinces to ensure that children like Luon and their families have access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. When a staggering 7.7 million children in Viet Nam go to schools without running water and working toilets,1 UNICEF’s work does not stop.
Water contamination and the climate crisis
Just ten minutes from her house, Luon’s primary school, Ta Te, is surrounded by lush mountains and muddy rutted roads. When morning light descends on blooming flowers, sounds of children from classrooms have already engulfed the school’s playground.
With more than 200 students and teachers, kids can play, chase, laugh, sweat, and feel thirsty without worries, as long as there is water.
However, the school’s remote location in Noong U commune, along with low resources, makes it susceptible to droughts and water contamination. Ta Te scarcely has water from November to April, and during rainy season, without a proper filter infrastructure, the water from mountain creeks is mixed with carcasses and animal waste.
“The water looks almost like tea and coffee,” one of the teachers shared.
With most latrines built more than 18 years ago, the school does not have enough quality facilities for students’ hygiene and sanitation. When there is no water, students defecate in open space.
“When I use the bathroom at school, I don’t feel comfortable because it is smelly,” Luon said.
Across Viet Nam, despite progress, nearly three million people are practicing open defecation.2 The lack of toilet not only causes public health issues, but also increases anxieties and risks of sexual assault for children, especially girls.
Providing access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene is a priority for UNICEF Viet Nam.
“When families, communities and schools don’t have access to clean water and toilets, their health will be directly impacted. There will be diseases related to skin, intestines, malnutrition and delayed development, as well as other problems,” Nguyen Hong Hanh, UNICEF Viet Nam’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) officer says.
This reality has become more complex, as the climate crisis unfolds, causing more intense droughts and heavy rainfalls that exhaust freshwater supply, contaminate sources, and damage facilities. At Ta Te primary school, the weathered pipelines linking water from the mountains have to be regularly fixed by the teachers themselves.
“The weather has become much more unpredictable compared to before,” the school’s principal, Le Van Ngoan, who has resided in Dien Bien for decades, observed.
Globally, Viet Nam is ranked thirteenth among countries most affected by the climate crisis during 2000-2019.3 Locally, gradual yet striking, every child in this little school can feel its impact through water.
Safe water, an undeniable right
With chestnut brown hair and a cheerful smile, Nisa exudes an air of natural confidence when she shares her dream of becoming a drawing artist. A year younger than Luon, Nisa lives in Pu Nhi commune in Dien Bien.
“Since we have clean water at school, I don’t get sick often anymore,” Nisa said. “Before, when there was no water at school, it was hard. I had to go home to use the bathroom and wash my hands.”
Despite limited financial resources, her school in Pu Nhi is designed with love and care for its almost 400 children. Many of them have crossed arduous roads to reach school, where they can learn, play soccer, even if barefoot, and water gardens that nourish them with healthy food.
Just like for the children at Ta Te, safe water sustains joy.
“The moment we finally got water, we were so happy, even happier than when we got electricity!” Van, a teacher, said. She recalled the bygone days, from fetching water since 6am to participating with the whole village to set up water pipelines around 2015.
However, even then, the school endured similar challenges that Ta Te primary school now faces. The water sources were unsafe and uncertain.
In 2019, things took a turn when UNICEF and partners supported the school with financial resources and technical guidance to ensure safer water and better sanitation, including filtering infrastructures, handwashing stations, new latrines, and ceramic filters.
“It was our life-long dream. Clean water relieves our burdens,” Doan Minh Cuong, Vice Principal, said. “The quality of our life has improved, and students have a better environment to live and study in.”
Each classroom now has a ceramic filter, an innovative, low-cost product that can be used to filter freshwater from unsafe sources for drinking purposes. Students and teachers also no longer have to wait till warmer days to take shower, thanks to the installed solar water heaters - a climate-resilient solution.
Yet, more services don't automatically improve children’s well-being. Understanding that safe sanitation and hygiene is rooted in habits, UNICEF and partners equip teachers and students with regular training on safe hygiene practices, empowering them with healthier behaviors that follow them for life.
“I like having a lot of clean water and many handwashing stations. I am happy because I could now wash my hands and use the latrines at school during recess hours,” Nisa said, turning on the faucet after scrubbing her hands with soap.
Steadily, water started running through her fingers.
A safe glass of water for every child
At Ta Te primary school, UNICEF is supporting school-led sanitation and promotional events on hygiene and the construction of a climate-smart water and sanitation facility. Meanwhile, at Pu Nhi primary school, we help with the maintenance of water supply and facilities and communications activities.
Beyond Dien Bien, leading and innovating, UNICEF works with partners to introduce low-cost, climate-resilient, and inclusive solutions in prioritized provinces like Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Mekong Delta – the region affected by water scarcity due to prolonged droughts and saline intrusion. We also advocate for increased investment in sanitation and water supply, with priority given to remote, hard-to-reach areas.
“Visiting the schools, I can feel the children’s pure joy. I hope our interventions will be supported by donors and scaled up by the government,” Hanh, UNICEF’s WASH officer, continues. “Most of all, I hope every child can have access to clean water and hygienic latrines to be healthy and successful.”
[1] UNICEF. (2022). UNICEF Viet Nam Country Programme Document 2022 - 2026
[2] Viet Nam SDGCW Survey 2020-2021 Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
