By Dr Joan Nyanyuki, Executive Director, African Child Policy Forum
It is self-evident that without water, there can be no life. Water is essential for drinking, growing food, sanitation, health and overall wellbeing.
Africa’s water crisis poses a significant threat not only to the health and wellbeing of its children but to its future prosperity. Access to clean, affordable, and safe drinking water is a fundamental human right recognised both in global human rights and in development frameworks such as Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, in Africa, access to this essential resource is far from universal, with approximately 400 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lacking access to basic drinking water.
This year’s World Water Week – which comes to a close today – has focused on Innovative Solutions for a Water-Wise World. The conference talks of “new incentives and innovations, building on the latest scientific knowledge and best practices from around the world.”
Such aspirations must seem a million miles away for the 190 million African children in 10 countries who are at the highest risk from water-related threats, including a lack of a basic water supply and sanitation services. Many have no choice but to practise open defecation and are unable to wash their hands because they have no water and soap at home.
UNICEF analysis earlier this year found that the triple threat of inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene-related diseases was most acute in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Somalia.
These countries also have the greatest number of child deaths from diseases caused by inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). They account for 20 percent of all global WASH-related child deaths. Six of them have experienced cholera outbreaks over the past year. The UN’s first-ever assessment of water security in Africa shows that 19 countries fall below the threshold of having at least 45 percent water security.
Sub-Saharan Africa is also the only region where the number of people without access to water is growing. World Bank data suggests that over the past two decades, 37 million more Africans have been without water and 247 million more without sanitation.
Shocking as these statistics are, the long-term impacts of water insecurity on African children go far beyond the here and now. According to the Stockholm International Water Institute – which hosts the annual World Water Week – children are responsible for fetching water in one in five households in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fetching and carrying water is not only heavy and dangerous, but it frequently prevents children from attending school. Our research shows that girls are more likely to drop out of education because they are forced to collect water, whilst others have to leave school when they start menstruating because there are no toilets.
Children living in rural areas are disproportionately affected – 85 percent of those without water and 70 percent without sanitation live in rural areas. The same is true for children in conflict zones, who are three times more likely to die from water-related diseases than from violence. Water scarcity increases the risk of malnutrition, leading to stunting and wasting which may irreversibly impact children’s physical and mental development.
Given the importance of agriculture to Africa’s economic development – agriculture accounts for about 35 percent of the continent’s gross domestic product, and provides livelihoods for more than half its population – water insecurity will also have a significant impact on future growth. That in turn means less money to spend on children’s health and wellbeing.
ACPF has long called for African governments to invest more in children’s health and wellbeing, including in WASH. Our 2015 report Africa’s Children and the Post-2015 Development Agenda pointed out that WASH investment is critical to enable Africa to reach its economic and intellectual potential. More recently, the impacts of climate change have highlighted the need for greater urgency. In November, our latest reports – the African Report on Child Wellbeing 2023 and No End in Sight: Child Hunger in Africa – will also point to the damaging link between water and food insecurity.
Water scarcity in Africa is predicted to worsen in the coming years. As Africa’s population continues to grow and climate change continues to deplete the continent’s water resources, it is estimated that by 2025, close to 230 million Africans will be facing water scarcity, and up to 460 million will be living in water-stressed areas.
It’s tempting to use Africa’s water crisis as a metaphor for the continent as a whole. Weak economic, environmental and political commitment, combined with lack of investment and poor governance means water is unequally distributed, wasted or polluted, and unsustainably managed – and as is so often the case, it’s our children that bear the brunt through no fault of their own. Addressing Africa’s water crisis requires a multi-faceted approach that includes investment in water infrastructure, improved water management, and child-friendly strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change.