"This work is vital as inadequate water supply and sanitation services contribute to over 70% of diseases in Ghana, costing the country significantly in terms of healthcare and productivity." WaterAid
"Guinea worms can take weeks and sometimes months to fully leave a person's body. During this time it dangles from where it emerged, usually from the foot or the ankle. If the worm makes contact with water at this stage, it releases hundreds of thousands of guinea worm larvae, re-infesting the water and thus perpetuating the cycle. To help stop its spread, WaterAid also teaches communities how to break the worm's life cycle by preventing people with emerging worms from entering water sources." WaterAid
"The three northern regions are particularly deprived with one in ten children dying before their fifth birthday." WaterAid
I once saw a documentary about 'Guinea Worm' in Ghana -and it was awful (I think it might have been a 'Red Nose Day documentary). Effecting mainly children -"Guinea worm is an intrusive disease where parasitic worms grow up to three feet long inside a person before painfully breaking their way out of the body through the skin" -and, "despite [some] progress, Ghana still remains the country with the third highest rates of infection after Nigeria and Sudan." The disease is spread through contaminated, dirty water [supplies] and is worse in Northern Ghana. Thankfully, in the Upper East Region, -WaterAid with the help of, Rural Aid -are helping to put an end to this problem. Fighting for safer water, sanitation and hygiene -WaterAid is solving the aforementioned problems by installing; clean and safe water [pumps] in rural Ghana. WaterAid is an international charity -with a mission to help the worlds poor to overcome poverty- by giving them access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education. For more information on the devastating effects of 'Guinea Worm' in Ghana or to donate -visit: http://www.wateraid.org/uk/
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