The strange thing about Africa's health facilities

By Simon J. Mone

A strange thing has happened! More disturbing news continues to emerge. This time, Africa's health facilities are in the spotlight. One third of health facilities in developing countries don't have running water ̶ let alone it being clean and safe.

It has been documented that Sub-Saharan Africa are the main culprits. So, it brings to mind a burning question, whether sanitation aspects of these facilities are performing better. For instance, discussions that involve water, immediately drags sanitation in it.

Where we have water supply, there must be waste water, and therefore, also sanitation. Just in total wonderment, how do these facilities operate without water? It is unthinkable. A hospital shouldn't lack water. That is why this story very much mirrors those abstract fairy-tales that kids gather around the ‘wang oo', or fire place, to listen to. You would think that this cannot be believed. We are compelled to believe because of one thing. Statistics don't lie!

Several well respected news sources indicate that this information is in fact, a fact. Reports show that water availability in Sierra Leone's and Liberia's health facilities is about a mere 20 percent. So clearly, it shows that hospital water access in our part of the world is a big problem.

Also, reports show that some hospitals have to get a way around. They transport water from far off places and supply hospitals. While other health centres collect the rain. But rain water needs more processing so as to allow its use in certain cases. Statistics also have it that every year, half a million babies are said to die before they are one month. Lack of clean water and poor sanitation are the causes.

This is remarkably strange! So upon reaching out for medication, their conditions worsen ̶ poor sanitation of hospitals to blame. One assumption is that, due to being located in arid places, some health centres lack adequate water.

To make matters worse, climate patterns are increasingly changing to our disadvantage. And rain trends are becoming unpredictable now than some years ago. And so the hydrological cycle has become unreliable. This spells doom for many sub-Saharan countries because of the uncertainties caused in water sustainability. The second assumption is that it could be because provision of water supply is neglected. If this is the case, then the times ahead are going to be harsh.

You see how this puts at risk, the health of many populations that go to these hospitals. During hot seasons when all water taps run are dry, hospitals forcefully operate without water. Is this not strange? A health facility won't operate efficiently in the absence of water. And part of the solution requires high level of commitment from all those that have a stake in the success of hospital water supply.

Failure to commit throws up a state of crisis and emergencies. And hardships in managing health centres will be evident. It is the kind of hardships that looms over us in the years ahead. For an immediate option, many facilities that don't have continuous supply of water are going to be forced to increasingly rely on rain water collection and storage.

Even then, this can only be possible when there is reliable quantity and quality of rain. Rain water quality needs to be controlled so that it is fit for specific hospital use. Depending on its quality, for health facilities in water-stress areas, harvesting and harnessing rain water should be the encouraged.

So large scale water harvesting must become part of hospital master plans if sustainability of water supply is to be achieved. Planning for this will definitely ease water stress in some difficult environments. This is a good way to make a 20% statistic look better.

The writer is a Civil Engineer, E-mail: smone@mail.com