SANATU ZAMBANG STUDIOS (Podcast)

The water crisis is the #1 global risk based on impact to society (as a measure of devastation), and the #8 global risk based on likelihood (likelihood of occurring within 10 years) as announced by the World Economic Forum, January 2015. 750 million people around the world lack access to safe water; approximately one in nine people.  Diarrhea caused by inadequate drinking water, sanitation, and hand hygiene kills an estimated 842,000 people every year globally, or approximately 2,300 people per day. 82% of those who lack access to improved water live in rural areas, while just 18% live in urban areas. In many countries, women are responsible for finding and fetching water for their families. All the water they need for drinking, washing, cooking, cleaning. They walk miles, carry heavy burdens, wait for hours and pay exorbitant prices. The work is back-breaking and all-consuming. Often the water is contaminated, even deadly. In these instances, they face an impos...

In raising community awareness, it is important to understand the root causes of problems. Many illnesses related to water security come from poverty and exploitation. Amsha Africa Foundation is taking steps to improve water supply in the rural communities in Africa by working together with community based organizations to assess existing water supplies and develop a plan for community water security. This article is about water scarcity and what happens when people don’t have enough water to stay healthy. For the people who collect and carry water — usually women and children — water scarcity can mean traveling long distances in search of water. Collecting and carrying water over long distances causes many health problems. For farmers, water scarcity means hunger when drought causes crops to fail. For children, water scarcity can mean dehydration and death. In hospitals, clinics, and other places where sick people get care, lack of water for washing ...

Maternal mortality is unacceptably high. About 800 women die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related complications around the world every day. In 2013, 289 000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth. Almost all of these deaths occurred in low-resource settings, and most could have been prevented. Key facts Every day, approximately 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries. Maternal mortality is higher in women living in rural areas and among poorer communities. Young adolescents face a higher risk of complications and death as a result of pregnancy than older women. Skilled care before, during and after childbirth can save the lives of women and newborn babies. Between 1990 and 2013, maternal mortality worldwide dropped by almost 50%. Improving maternal health is 1 of the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the international community in 2000. ...

Worldwide, 780 million people do not have access to an improved water source An estimated 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation (more than 35% of the world’s population) According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, regions with the lowest coverage of "improved" sanitation in 2006 were sub-Saharan Africa (31%), Southern Asia (33%) and Eastern Asia (65%) In 2006, 7 out of 10 people without access to improved sanitation were rural inhabitants  . According to the United Nations and UNICEF, one in five girls of primary-school age are not in school, compared to one in six boys. One factor accounting for this difference is the lack of sanitation facilities for girls reaching puberty. Girls are also more likely to be responsible for collecting water for their family, making it difficult for them to attend school during school hours   The installation of toilets and latrines may enable school children, especially menstruating girl...

In Africa, half of young girls who drop out of school do so because they need to collect water – often from many miles away – or because the school hasn’t got separate toilets for boys and girls. Not having a loo puts people at risk of being bitten by snakes as they squat in the grass and makes women and girls a target for sexual assault as they go to the toilet in the open. In 2000, 189 countries from across the world signed up to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. The plan was that we’d all work together to end extreme poverty by 2015. But little action means some targets will be missed by DECADES. If we carry on like this, it’s predicted we won’t hit the sanitation target in sub-Saharan Africa until the 23rd century.  Lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation traps people in poverty. Their health suffers and the prospect of developing economically remains far out of reach. Here are some of the hard facts: 2.5 billion people across the world ...

Water is the greatest gift of nature. Humans have exploited this natural resource to a level where controlling water pollution is impossible. Here are some important reasons why water is considered as a precious natural resource. The misuse of this can cause damaging consequences and a threat to human life. Here is an interesting way to analyze how water pollution is gradually causing so many deaths worldwide. According to Wikipedia, “ Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater). Water pollution occurs when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds. Water pollution affects plants and organisms living in these bodies of water. In almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to individual species and populations, but also to the natural biological communities. ” The use of hazardous chemicals in manufacturing indust...

Diesel fuel is widely used throughout our society. It powers the trucks that deliver products to our communities, the buses that carry us to school and work, the agricultural equipment that plants and harvests our food, and the backup generators that can provide electricity during emergencies. It is also used for many other applications. Diesel engines have historically been more versatile and cheaper to run than gasoline engines or other sources of power. Unfortunately, the exhaust from these engines contains substances that can pose a risk to human health. Recently in Ghana the capital city Accra, 4 people, have died from these toxic substance, due to the power crisis in the country. Residence in the country are forced to put on generators, since most of the areas in the country lack planing smoke from these generators go into other people rooms ...