The Global Interfaith WASH Alliance of India
A Coalition of Compassion
“If 90 school buses filled with kindergartners were to crash every day, with no survivors, the world would take notice. But this is precisely what happens every single day because of poor water, sanitation and hygiene.” -UNICEF
Every 15 Seconds…
- Worldwide, every 15 seconds, a child dies due to unsafe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
- India is home to the most people in the world who live without access to improved sanitation (814 million).
- 97 million people in India are still not able to access improved drinking water, placing it second in the world for this need.
- Reports the World Bank, India loses the equivalent of 6.4 percent of its GDP every year due to improper sanitation and hygiene.
- Unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene is a key reason why the beautiful nation of India leads the world in the number of deaths of children under the age of five, amounting to 22% of such deaths every year.
- Yet, simply supplying toilets and clean water systems isn’t enough if the population doesn’t understand why they are necessary. Without such understanding, these provisions might never be used, causing more sickness and death.
Solutions
Since the dawn of history, faith has provided a foundation from which social norms develop. It is to faith leaders that billions are drawn in times of joy and sorrow as well as in the search for inner meaning. As teachers to the masses, the words of faith leaders motivate, persuade and enable. Through their speech and actions, they can bring about change in ways that others, quite simply, cannot.
The Global Interfaith WASH Alliance is the world’s first initiative to engage the planet’s many faiths as allies in efforts to create a world where every human being has access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation and proper hygiene.
Actions
Educate: Through the power of their faith institutions, the people of India will be motivated to live healthier, more hygienic lives. They will also be encouraged to live in greater harmony with the environment, so that they become better stewards of their natural resources.
Improve Public Health: GIWA India will help provide environmentally-friendly biotoilets that produce biofuel and clear fertilizer as their only outputs. In addition, clean water filtration systems and/or purification tablets will be provided to areas in need.
Disaster Response: GIWA India is already providing direct-response services for this year’s tragic Himalayan flooding disaster. Local relief workers will later be trained in order to help prevent post-disaster water-borne illnesses and epidemics in the advent of future emergencies.
Scale: GIWA India is working with partners worldwide in order to scale its unique paradigm to ensure happier, healthier lives for all.
Click here to download the GIWA Brochure.
Click here to download the brochure on WASH and child survival.