The Walls Blocking the Path to Freedom
Over 1.3 billion people are living in all types of extreme poverty. Within poverty, there are different areas of damage. Some are only trapped by one issue, while others face multiple. Hunger, conflict, malnutrition, poor healthcare systems, lack of government support, and minimal access to clean water and sanitation deeply affect countries in poverty. There are so many issues and topics within poverty that it's hard to help the countries in need, but looking at one problem at a time can help build over 107 countries back to their former glory. More than 2 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Basic sanitation is water that comes from an improved source that doesn't take more than 30 minutes to collect. These people without basic sanitation spend their days walking miles upon miles to find clean drinking water in place of walking to school or work. Not only are people affected in their homes, but hospitals and schools also don't have basic sanitation. Every year, over 850,000 people die from these living conditions alone. Basic sanitation can be achievable with solar-powered machines that transform unclean liquids into clean water, but they cost money that many countries do not have.
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The World in Poverty
Looking at 4 very different parts of the world, the information for the number of households without access to clean water and sanitation is to the right. The United States and Italy have an average of 0% of homes without access to basic sanitation. Looking at Madagascar and India, they had a different scenario. India started off with a high amount of homes in this type of poverty and the number decreased at a steady rate as the years went on.
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During these years, India made its mission to get basic sanitation to everyone and they started with the rural areas first. Towards the end of the data, India constructed over 12 million toilets in rural areas.
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Madagascar had a different outlook on the issue. They began educating communities on how to use safe water as well as proper waste disposal and sanitary measures.
Where are they now?
Today, the people of Madagascar and India continue their efforts to make their homes a better and safer place. They continue to push for the people who are struggling and they pursue their plans of getting clean water and sanitation to homes by means of building and education.
India's Households
Clean water and sanitation within India's households
YEAR
2000
5.5% of India's households don't have clean water and sanitation
In 2005, 5.5% of India's households did not have access to clean water and sanitation. As the years go on, there is a positive change to this number.
YEAR
2003
5.0% of India's households don't have clean water and sanitation
0.5% of India had been able to implement clean water and sanitation in its homes within three years.
Looking at the graph available to the right, India was the only country out of the four chosen to be assessed that doesn't have clean water available to every school. Over the span of 8 years, the number of schools that had access to clean water decreased substantially. One of the pressing reasons behind this decline is the lack of funds. Because of the lack of clean water at home, children are pulled out of school in order to spend more time collecting water for their families. Not only are some pulled out for a day, others completely drop school altogether. Within drought-affected states, it is estimated that the school dropout rate increased by 22%. The sudden drop in students affects the school's income.
**Madagascar is not included in this graph as the data was not available. **
YEAR
2000
2.9% of Madagascar's households don't have clean water and sanitation
In 2005, 2.9% of Madagascar's households did not have access to clean water and sanitation. As the years go on, there is a slow, but positive change to this number.
YEAR
2003
2.6% of Madagascar's households don't have clean water and sanitation
0.3% of Madagascar had been able to implement clean water and sanitation in its homes within three years.
Madagascar's Households
Clean water and sanitation within Madagascar's households
Basic Sanitation and Clean Water in Schools
Based on the graph on the left, the United States of America and Italy have clean water and sanitation available in every home and school. This leads to the question of how? The U.S.A. doesn't have many schools that have the issue of unreachable clean water or sanitation. It is mandated that schools have available water for their students, if this protocol isn't met, the school is closed down. All schools are required to have free water available throughout the school by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Italy has a similar system put in place.
**Madagascar is not included in this graph as the data was not available. **
Sources & Credits
Creators:
Madilyn Bulfer,
Sara Kashyap,
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and Aditi Kumar