The World Health Organization estimates that 2.2 million children under the age of five die from sanitation-related intestinal diseases each year – accounting for 17 percent of child mortality. While these diseases are leading killers of children and thought to be preventable, they still receive significantly less funding than other diseases according to reports by PATH and WaterAid America.
But now, much needed help is on the way.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, a five-year, $10.9 million grant to evaluate several interventions to combat diarrheal disease in developing countries.
The project will both provide immediate relief and assess how sanitation interventions, delivered alone or as part of combined intervention packages, impact child health and well-being. The intervention packages will include drinking water improvements and hand washing solutions.
Dr. Jack Colford, professor of epidemiology at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, will coordinate the project. He believes the strategic evaluations are critical to securing future funding for sanitation-related intestinal disease relief.
"Increasingly, foundations, governments, the World Bank and development agencies such as Millennium Challenge Corporation are demanding evidence of effectiveness when awarding development funds," said Colford. "The results will hopefully influence how up to billions of dollars will be directed towards long-term improvements in health and economic outcomes for millions of children each year."
Colbert will work directly with the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh and Innovations for Poverty Action. Together, they will be joined by a team of experts from various fields, including public health, economics, behavioral change, nutrition, cognitive development and tropical enteropathy.
This grant – funding the first ever first large-scale impact evaluation of diarrheal disease relief – demonstrates the Gates Foundation’s commitment to "giving [people of third world countries] the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty."
The Gates Foundation has donated over $21 billion since its inception and provided $2.8 billion in grants in 2008.
I am a zimbabwean living in the uk as a refugee. I come from a poor community which has been ravaged by the cholera outbreak. I was wondering this fund can be extended to the community to sink boreholes for clean water to the people.
Please urgently advise.