By The Conversation
Unsafe drinking water and household air pollution are major causes of illness and death around the world. This is also the case in Rwanda, where most people living in rural areas drink untreated water and burn firewood on open stoves to cook their meals. More than 80% of Rwandans rely on firewood as their primary fuel source.
After neonatal disorders, pneumonia and diarrhoeal disease are the two leading killers of children under five years of age in Rwanda. Unsafe drinking water is the leading cause of diarrhoeal disease. And cooking indoors on open-fire stoves, with fuel such as wood and charcoal, has been linked to pneumonia, low birth weight and impaired development in children.
There have been many efforts to address these environmental health issues, but they often lack the financial support to be sustained in the long term.
In 2011, we came together as government, implementers and independent evaluators to design and study a programme that would address these environmental health challenges in Rwanda. It would need to be both sustainable and scalable. Read more…
