Support our Sanitation Programs
Lack of appropriate sanitation infrastructures, hygiene and awareness lead to illness and disease in rural villages.
Clean Water
Access to clean water is crucial for promoting longer life spans, lowering infectious diseases rates and reducing infant mortality. Through our Healthy Village Workshop program, our Health Councils meet together to address the village’s needs. They understand unclean water results in diarrhea-related illnesses, even death. The councils teach the villagers to purchase bleach and use the right amount in their drinking wells to disinfect the water. They educate them on how to avoid contaminated water sources and maintain a healthy village environment.
In 2021, we began partnering with Latter-day Saint Charities to install clean-water wells in some of our villages and their Internally Displaced People settlements.
Latrines
Over the decades, our Mali staff has worked closely with villagers to identify the best ways to improve waste management, reduce open defecation and promote healthy sanitation practices in their communities. We have partnered with community members in the Ouelessebougou region to build latrines in the villages and at our 12 partner schools. But the effect goes much farther than construction. The villagers, young and old, now have improved habits and see the positive results of good sanitation.
Hand Washing Stations
In addition to our efforts to educate village communities about the importance of good hygiene, we work with our 12 elementary partner schools to create clean environments where children learn how to take responsibility for their health. Our Education Councils collaborate with the school principals and teachers to determine solutions for their students, then they partner with our Mali staff to get support and resources. One of our projects is to provide handwashing stations for each of the schools. The school is responsible for providing the soap and training the students on how to properly wash their hands. Many families have reported that their children are in the habit of washing regularly and practice at home.
We also partner with villages to provide additional training and individual hand-washing stations for families to use at their compounds.
Why are sanitation initiatives important in Mali?
The extreme poverty of Mali has a direct impact on the village’s sanitation and hygiene practices. This can lead to serious health consequences including infections such as diarrhea or parasitic infections. Our community-led efforts effectively address these issues as villagers themselves work to improve their water, sanitation and hygiene conditions.