Few years ago, some communities in Jigawa state suffered from water-borne diseases that killed people. In this report, AJUMA EDWINA OGIRI, xrays the impact of the Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme (WSSSRP) projects in the lives of the people of the state especially women and children.
Seven years ago, Digawar kuka, a relatively small community in Taura local government area (LGA) of Jigawa State, suffered severe cholera oubreak, diarrhoea, typhoid and skin infection, when they innocently made use of water from a well that was contaminated with faeces. The quiet community lost over seven children to the outbreak. The cemented well got contaminated as a result of flood that leaked into it. Significantly, the people of the community practiced open defaecation, and as a result, faeces were washed into the well by the flood.
The lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation services is the direct consequences of 25 per cent of child mortality due to diarrhea in Nigeria just as 50 per cent of malnutrition cases are also linked to chronic diarrhea caused by lack of clean water, sanitation and hygiene including hand washing with soap.
The lack of access to clean and safe water in most communities in Jigawa State led the introduction of Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme (WSSSRP) projects, implemented by UNICEF and funded by the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid.
Currently, over 80 communities in Jigawa State have benefited from the initiative of the EU focal States. Specifically, the projects have been impactful, especially to women and children, who are the main victims when it comes to issues of water sanitation and hygiene related illnesses.
A community leader in Digawar kuka, Hassan Ismail, said after the outbreak of cholera, typhoid and skin infection in the community, as a result of the contaminated water from the community well, UNICEF intervened through the WSSSRP I and II, and constructed two hand pumping boreholes within the space of one to six years in the community.
According to him; “After the outbreak and sensitisation from WASH, a lot of awareness was created on the danger of open defecation. Each house hold in the community now has about two to three toilets, which our women clean on a daily basis to avoid illnesses.
“Our children are also free from water-borne diseases. Since they started drinking water from the borehole, we have not had any case of diarrhea or cholera for the past five to six years,” he said.
A chat with some women in another community by Garin-Manu, in Mallam Madori L.G.A, Jigawa by Blueprint, revealed that the community lost about three children to cholera epidemic and a young woman also lost her life when she fell into the well, while trying to fetch water.
One of the women, Hadiza Ali said; “we really suffered when we depended on that well for water. We drank water and gave our children water to drink from the well directly without boiling. We lost about three children as a result of that to cholera.
We also lost a young woman who fell into the well and died, while trying to fetch water.
“We have also learnt a lot from the sensitisation exercise carried out by WASH in our community on hygiene and open defecation. We the women now have some people who volunteered to be monitoring the hygiene practices in the community and we meet every week to carry out sanitation in the community.”
“The construction of these two boreholes in our community has really helped us, and made life so easy for us. We are happy that we can now drink water from there, without fear of falling ill,” Zainab Nuhu enthused.
Similarly, the village head of Digawar yambukudu, a disperse community in Taura LGA, Jigawa, Gambo Ibrahim, expressed joy over the intervention of the WSSSRP projects in the community, saying “We were drinking water, cooking, feeding our animals from our community well. We drank the water directly from the well, and had several issues of typhoid, malaria and diarrhoea as a result. We recorded between 8-12 cases of typhoid fever in a month. Since the intervention of UNICEF in building two boreholes in the community, the number has dropped to 1-3 cases,” he explained.
Ibrahim also added that because of the sensitization of the community on the dangers of open defecation, the 50 households in the community now have toilet facilities, as they did not have any in the community before now due to the practice of open defecation.
According to Ibrahim, the second borehole constructed by the newly built one block of two classrooms and an office, has attracted more students to the school; with over a 100 per cent increase in population.
“About 80 students were attending the school. Since the second borehole was built close to the school by WSSSRP II, the school now has over 300 students, as children from neighbouring communities are now attending the school. The students were also sensitized on hand washing,” he said.
The Co-ordinator, WASH, Mallam Madori LGA, Babandi Alhassan said; “We saw that the people were suffering as a result of poverty and ignorance. The people complained to us about their water, and we came to their aid through UNICEF intervention. On our own part, we have been sensitizing our rural people to ensure that they make provision for toilet and keep their surrounding clean to promote good hygiene.”
