Two months after Burkina Faso was hit by devastating floods, the situation in Ouagadougou, the country's capital, remains precarious for the thousands of people who are sheltering in temporary sites such as schools and with host families. Action Against Hunger | ACF International is improving sanitation and providing basic hygiene for 7,500 people affected by the flooding, with funding from the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
Action Against Hunger is focusing its efforts on people living in Bogodogo district, one of the capital's poorest areas. Most houses here, simple mud structures built on marginal land, were destroyed by the torrential rains and subsequent flooding, causing widespread destruction and displacement. Thousands of people were sheltering in temporary sites but with schools resuming their activities, people had to relocate to new camps where water provision and sanitation structures were not adapted to such a situation. "Our main priority is to make sure people relocating to new camps have sufficient clean drinking water and adequate sanitary conditions to prevent the outbreak of water-borne diseases, one of the main causes of malnutrition," says Patrick Andrey, Desk Officer for Burkina Faso. Action Against Hunger's teams are improving water facilities ensuring clean drinking water for affected households as well as constructing latrines, washing areas and showers. In addition, the teams are implementing hygiene promotion sessions and distributing hygiene kits to guarantee minimum hygiene standards.
Action Against Hunger is also monitoring the nutritional situation of 1,350 children in the camps in collaboration with the government's health services and will continue to closely monitor the nutritional situation of children under five years old to prevent a potential surge in malnutrition rates.
In Bogodogo district, some 2,000 flood affected people are remaining homeless and are living with host families. This number recently increased when people were moved out from the schools to the camps far away from their neighbourhoods. In the absence of any assistance to improve their living conditions, they have become an additional burden for their host families. Consequently the situation risks deteriorating the sanitation condition of the neighbourhood further, in an area already considered among the poorest. Action Against Hunger is supporting both the displaced families and their hosts by improving sanitation structures and distributing hygiene kits.
ENDS
Action Against Hunger | ACF International is an international humanitarian organisation committed to ending child hunger. Recognised as a leader in the fight against malnutrition, ACF works to save the lives of malnourished children while providing communities with sustainable access to safe water and long-term solutions to hunger. With 30 years of expertise in emergency situations of conflict, natural disaster, and chronic food insecurity, ACF runs life-saving programmes in some 40 countries benefiting 5 million people each year.
For further information, please contact Christine Kahmann on 020 8293 6197 or email c.kahmann@aahuk.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Josette Sheeran (C), World Food Programme (WFP) executive director, Kenro Oshidari (L), WFP regional director for Asia, and Stephen Anderson, WFP country director and representative for the Philippines, views the Laguna ...
