Suffering from avoidable health problems has become a tragic way of life in developing countries. Millions of people are challenged by the burden of infectious disease, malnutrition and health complications simply because they do not have access to clean drinking water.
Together with our guests, our Safe Water for Schools Programme has introduced LifeStraw filters to communities in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia benefiting almost 57,000 individuals.
The LifeStraw Filter is a high-volume water purifier designed to deliver safe drinking water. The filter uses hollow fibre purification technology, which converts contaminated water into safe drinking water. The filter removes a minimum of 99.9999% of bacteria, 99.999% of viruses and 99.99% of protozoan parasites. It also prevents waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera, worms and cryptosporidiosis. Each filtration system can purify between 70,000 to 100,000 litres of water (enough to serve a school for three to five years), is chemical free and does not require electrical power or batteries.
The Nakatindi medical clinic and maternity ward caters for a catchment area of over 11,000 people from Nakatindi and surrounding areas. The medical facility currently has two sources of water, a borehole on site and a connection to the municipal water supply from Livingstone Town. Whilst this should provide reliable access to clean water for patients and staff, this is not the case. The borehole water has been tested and declared unconsumable due to contamination from a number of minerals dangerous to human health.
The Nakatindi Medical Clinic and Maternity Ward, the towns local school which has 810 students, the Chipego Bike Shop and Sishemo Bead Studio have now all been given their own filters. These LifeStraw filters will guarantee clean water to the community, transforming lives and reaping huge benefits for every individual.