About over 1 billion children live without basic sanitation. As a result about 1.6 million children die (that means a child dying every 20 seconds) each year from preventable diseases, most of which are associated with poor sanitation.
According to United Nations (UN) 2.5 billion People, 40 percent of the world’s population lack access to toilet facilities. 1 billion (15 percent of the world population) still practice open defecation and in sub-Sahara Africa, only about 33 percent of the people have access to adequate sanitary facilities. Open defecation is widely practiced in most African countries especially in the rural communities.
5 million people don’t have access to adequate sanitation in Sierra Leone. people in Sierra Leone don’t have access to safe water. Over 1,200 children under five die a year due to diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation in Sierra Leone.
Each year many cases of diseases reported in health facilities in sub- Sahara Africa are related to poor sanitation. Diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, B and typhoid are as a result of poor sanitary conditions; these problems incidentally are poverty related.
Assist with sanitary facilities and provide hygiene education to schools.
To help tackle the issues of poor sanitation Support For Women And Children International (SFWACI) is actively engaged in:
- Educating communities about the need for having toilet facilities
- Assisting communities financially to construct sanitary facilities
To help improve the quality of life of people of Africa, Support For Women And Children International (SFWACI) has embarked on assisting mainly impoverished rural communities with new as well as used hospital equipment, and essential life saving drugs.
Promote bore-hole water supply
About 80% of illnesses in Africa are linked to poor water and sanitary conditions. Children are the most adversely affected ones because their immune systems are not well developed to overcome many of the infectious diseases they come in contact with. In Africa about 346 million people lack safe drinking water, this has resulted in many hospitalizations. As a charity organization, Support For Women And Children International (SFWACI) will continue to partner with the local people and organizations to:
- Construct bore-holes
- Repair and maintenance existing bore-holes
- Conduct seminars on safe drinking water
Promote immunization services
According to World Health Organization (WHO) most countries are making good progress on preventable childhood illness. Polio is close to eradication and 37 countries are reaching 60 percent or more of their children with measles immunization. Support For Women And Children International (SFWACI) are working with governmental and non-government agencies in Africa to promote immunization services against diseases such as:
- Polio
- Measles
- Tetanus
- Whooping cough
- Tuberculosis
Promote the prevention and control of diseases especially HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Neglected diseases such as worms infestation
Africa is having 11 percent of the world’s population however, 60 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world are in Africa.
About 565,000 people die of malaria in Africa each year, who are mostly children. As part of our Support For Women And Children International (SFWACI) mission we are engaged in educating people about:
- Sex and safe sex practices
- Abstinence
- Never to share needles
- Faithfulness to your partner
We also distribute mosquito nets to poor communities to prevent malaria
Promote maternal and child health services
Maternal and child health services continue to bedevil Africa. In recent years, statistic has shown that sub-Saharan Africa’s child mortality rate is still 15 times that of developed countries. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) every day, approximately 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth and 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries. It is not a surprise that 99% of deaths in pregnancy and childbirth are in developing countries because of the poverty in those countries.
Support For Women And Children International (SFWACI) has focused on four areas to help reduce the incidence of death associated with pregnancy and childbirth and infant mortality:
Promote skilled care by a birth attendant during pregnancy and labor
Promote postnatal care
Help fight the incident of under 5 morbidity and mortality
Assist with vaccinations against hepatitis A& B, measles, whooping cough, polio, tetanus etc.
Support For Women And Children International (SFWACI) has focused on four areas to help reduce the incidence of death associated with pregnancy and childbirth and infant mortality:
- Promote skilled care by a birth attendant during pregnancy and labor
- Promote postnatal care
- Help fight the incident of under 5 morbidity and mortality
- Assist with vaccinations against hepatitis A& B, measles, whooping cough, polio, tetanus etc.