Liberia: Less cholera with better hygiene

Faced with unsafe water and poor sanitation systems, aid groups in Liberia are encouraging people to wash their hands, put bleach in drinking water and find safe ways of disposing of human waste.

26 Sep 2007

Children drawing clean water from a well in New Kru Town in the Liberian capital, Monrovia (Photo: Kate Thomas/IRIN)

"We're trying to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases before they happen... It's fairly clear that the Ministry of Health does not have the transport and logistical facilities to improve the country's provision for water sanitation," Kabuka Banba, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) project officer in Liberia, told IRIN.

Less than 25 percent of Monrovia's 1.5 million people have access to safe drinking water, according to UNICEF. "So the thrust of [our] intervention is to build capacity through training and education," Banba said.

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