Our water is now safe enough for drinking
Families in Kabawa have suffered untold hardship due to the water challenges they face. A representative of the community leader Mohammed Danlami stated some of their problems as how mothers and children in the community travel long distance to fetch water from the river; the river bank being surrounded by snakes during raining season; long queues at public taps and disease attributable to contaminated water.
On the 22nd of March 2016, Society for Family Health (SFH) through the Expanded Social Marketing Project in Nigeria (ESMPIN) – A USAID funded project, in collaboration with Channels Television and Kogi State Ministry of health commemorated the 2016 World Water Day in Kabawa community of Lokoja LGA, Kogi state Nigeria.
SFH and other stakeholders conducted a safe water intervention which introduced the community to household water treatment options and taught them how to treat drinking water with point of use water treatment products like WaterGuard Plus and P&G Water Purifier.
“World Water Day dates back to the 1993 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development where an international observance for water was recommended. The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day. It has been held annually since then. World Water Day is one of UN-Water’s campaigns that aims to inform, engage and inspire action.’’- United Nations
The intervention program which lasted for about three hours helped the participants in the community to learn about proper hand washing, safe drinking water and diarrhea management. They were taught on how to use ORS and Zinc tablet for the management of diarrhea, P&G Purifier and WaterGuard Plus to treat their water and increase access to safe drinking water. Cartons of P&G Purifier and WaterGuard Plus were also donated by SFH to the community.
All house hold water treatment options (P&G Purifier and WaterGuard Plus) and ORS and Zinc are available in pharmacies, supermarkets and other retail stores across Nigeria.
