Prior to January 2012, more than half of Hait's population lacked access to safe drinking water and over 80% had no access to sanitation facilities. With the emergence of cholera in October 2010, the challenges multiplied exponentially. Despite the millions of individuals who have benefitted from the response conducted thus far, the state of water accessibility, sanitation and hygiene remain fragile.
The month of April marks the beginning of rains and an increase in public health risks, especially among internally displaced persons (IDP). Flooding will definitely occur and due to a poor sewage system and inadequate sanitation and hygiene facilities, the number of cases from cholera is likely to spike. As of November 2011, over 2,000 toilets in camps scattered around the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area are non-functional and over 1,000 are classified abandoned. More alarming is that a mere 6% of the 738 camps have operational hand washing facilities with soap and water. In a report released by the CCCM cluster, analysis shows that de-sludging operations, crucial to the proper maintenance of toilets, cover only 60% of the population in the 53 largest camps. This means that approximately 207,000 people living in the remaining 705 camps are likely to experience deteriorating conditions unless more resources are secured.
To improve the water, sanitation and hygiene situation in Haiti, identifying a continuous stream of resources to sustain projects will be critical for organizations. Faced with diminishing resources and lack of long-term funding, agencies responding in this sector, as well as others, are forced to scale back or shut down operations entirely.
Find out more about projects focused on Water, Sanitaiton and Hygiene by visiting the sector page at http://haiti.ngoaidmap.org/sectors/13. See which donors are funding projects in this sector and learn more about the organizations implementing them.