If there were a set of environmental cleaning guidelines for health care facilities that could prevent millions from infections and protect women during childbirth, wouldn’t those be worth implementing? Poor environmental hygiene in health care facilities contributes to health care-associated infections (HAI) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which affect millions of people, including new mothers, each year.
In March and April of 2019, two massive cyclones (Idai and Kenneth) hit Mozambique, impacting the central and northern parts of the country. On the evening of March 14, Category IV Cyclone Idai made landfall in Beira, a city of 500,000, then moved into the provinces of Sofala, Inhambane, Zambézia, and Manica, and later affected Malawi and Zimbabwe leaving behind a trail of devastation. In Mozambique, the cyclone caused more than 600 deaths and left 1.85 million people in need of assistance.
In Africa, it is estimated that over half of the urban population lives in informal settlements, sometimes referred to as “slums.” Most informal settlements do not have access to basic city services such as piped water, sewer systems, or waste collection. Kibera, a large informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, is not connected to the municipal water system. Residents in Kibera purchase water at kiosks often supplied by unregulated networks of rubber hoses and tubing that run along the ground and in open gutters.
Did you know that the U.S. Department of State engages with countries around the world on key water issues through AWEP? Through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s International Technical Assistance Program, U.S.–based water experts deploy all over the world for short-term consultancies, training programs, and public diplomacy missions. AWEP helps countries improve their water resources management practices and serves as an avenue for U.S. embassies and consulates to engage diplomatically on the U.S. Government Global Water Strategy.
Developed by Princeton University, with support by USACE’s International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management and UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Hydrological Program, the African Flood and Drought Monitor (AFDM) provides daily rainfall, temperature, soil moisture, and streamflow data for historical, near-real time and forecasting applications. Using satellite-generated inputs plus modeling, the system is especially useful where ground-based weather and streamflow stations are scarce.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Brazilian National Water Agency (ANA) since 2016, providing training and technical assistance for water resources management. Reclamation provides technical support abroad to enhance its international reputation and cement its standing as a source of expertise in dam engineering and dam safety programs. In the summer of 2019, Reclamation employees traveled to Brasília, Brazil, to conduct two high-priority trainings with ANA. This program supports the objectives of the U.S.
Water is a limited resource impacting both economic development and food security, and agriculture is the single largest user of water resources in many countries across the globe. Pakistan is no exception. Agriculture directly supports the country's population and accounts for 26 percent of its gross domestic product. Rapid population increase, infrastructure issues, loss of reservoir storage capacity, and climate fluctuations have led to major water availability concerns.
Countries that face challenges with water quality, quantity, and accessibility cannot begin to address these issues without effective governance frameworks. Governance is also an issue in other sectors that water production depends on and is essential for, such as the electricity sector. In 2015, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Government of Sierra Leone began a $44.4 million partnership to implement policy reforms, build institutional capacity, and improve governance in the water and electricity sectors of the country, with a focus on the capital city of Freetown.
While schools are primarily centers for students' learning, they also serve as foundations for development, including social and economic safety nets, in their communities. For example, in the United States and many other countries, school feeding programs help to ensure that students from all social and economic backgrounds are well nourished, which improves those students' school attendance, academic performance, and long-term opportunities for successful livelihoods.
Water impacts health, food, energy, security, economic growth, and environmental stability around the world. USAID’s work to address the challenge of improving water and sanitation access to the 2.1 billion people without safe drinking water and the estimated 4.4 billion people without adequate sanitation is documented in its annual report. In addition to taking a comprehensive look at USAID water programming over the past year, the annual report breaks down funding by country and region and provides results of its work in water, sanitation, and agricultural water management.
