Clean Water Program
Water-borne diseases—including dysentery, giardia, bilharzia, typhoid fever, hepatitis and cholera—are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality for refugees and displaced persons throughout sub-Saharan Africa. It is generally accepted that 15 liters of clean water is the minimum necessary to sustain human health and that there should be no less than one well for every 500 people. Yet, throughout Northern Uganda, displaced persons have access to an average of just five liters of clean water a day and the shortage of functioning boreholes is so acute that each well must serve an average of 5,000 persons.
Lifeline initiated its clean water program in November 2005, when it dug a well in the Aloni camp for displaced persons in the Lira District of Northern Uganda. Situated in a remote area approximately 40 kilometers from the town of Lira, the camp had only been discovered by international relief agencies about four months earlier and, with literally no services available, its only source of water was a stagnant pool. The enormous toll on human health could be seen in the stomachs of hundreds of children—bloated to grotesque proportions from the multitude of worms proliferating inside.