An Appreciation for Abundant Clean Water

Everyday, dozens of times, we enjoy ready and easy access to an abundance of clean water. But this is not the case for an astounding number of people around the world. An astounding 2 billion people, a quarter of the global population, lack access to safe drinking water. What’s more, nearly half of the people on the planet (46% according to the U.N. World Water Development Report 2023) do not have access to safely managed sanitation. Think about that the next time you brush your teeth or flush the toilet.

A couple weeks ago we wrote about the largely positive changes to health we have seen over many decades in Japan. This week let’s talk about Africa, where the story is far less rosy. We have both spent time in Africa, including South Africa during Apartheid. In recent years, our focus has been East Africa and work to build capacity in medicine, nursing and health sciences. During a visit last week to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the water problem was evident.

There have been years when, due to a lack of rainfall, everyone suffers. The consequence was not hard to see: dead cattle at the roadside and parched earth without a blade of grass where these animals should have been grazing.