Water For Life

The Problem

The Solution

Water Facts

Sudan Appeal

Bangladesh Programme

Bangladesh Water and Sanitation Programme

Project Overview

Every eight seconds a child dies of a water related disease. In Bangladesh, the water and sanitation situation is stark:

• 1.2 billion people need access to clean water supply.
• 3 billion people are without sanitation facilities.

Many people in rural Bangladesh resort to using unclean and unhygienic water for all aspects of life, including washing, drinking and cooking. Such practices may be directly responsible for spreading endemic diseases like diarrhoea and worm infection.

Islamic Relief is implementing an integrated community based project which includes access to clean water, sanitation facilities and hygiene promotion.

Project Background

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world and at present, approximately 19.5% of the population lives in urban cities.

But this figure is increasing rapidly at an annual rate of 5.3 % and is pushing the already inadequate public services to its limit.

Primary health care has improved over the last decade but the problems remain severe and are exacerbated by a shortage of medical staff and facilities.

The main types of diseases are parasitic, diarrhoeal and communicable, yet still the government's health spending as a percentage of GNP is less than 1%.

This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that perennial flooding and excessive rain has meant that much of the country has suffered from water borne diseases and poor sanitation.

In Bangladesh, rivers, ponds and pools are everywhere. The same pond or river where people go bathing is used for defecating and washing clothes.

NGOs working in the local area estimate that access to tube wells within 150 metres is in some areas less than 60%.

Because of the lack of ability to manage such vast amount of water and the inability to provide adequate sanitation services especially in the rural areas, many communities are faced with severe problems.

This is one of the reasons why there is a high percentage of diarrhoea related death amongst children under 5, which is estimated at 723 deaths every day.

Project Activities

• To supply communities with slabs for latrines to help alleviate the problem of poor and inadequate sanitation.


• To educate and raise community awareness on basic health issues through a program of basic education.

Project Objectives

• To provide a source of easily accessible clean drinking water through the provisions of hand pumps to the villages that most need it.


• To improve health condition of communities and decrease the number of deaths and illnesses caused, by controlling water borne diseases.

Beneficiaries

• 100 handpumps will benefit approximately 6,000 people.


• Each handpump benefits approximately 60 individuals (10 households)