The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has recently granted a donation
of US$10.9 million to sanitation and hygiene projects in poor and rural areas
in Vietnam and Cambodia, the US-based non-governmental organization East Meets
West (EMW) reported on Wednesday.
The grant is the first of its
kind from the foundation for hygiene aid.
It is estimated that 50 percent
of households in Vietnam and 80 percent of households in Cambodia do not have
sanitation facilities. And the poor hygiene practices in the countries like
open defecation and the unsafe disposal of human waste have resulted in an
estimated 17,000 deaths annually, mostly in children under 5.
It has also caused the nations to
suffer an economic loss of US$ 1.2 billion a year due to the consequences of
the inappropriate sanitation situation.
Besides building and improving
hygiene facilities, the donation is also aimed at making positive changes in
behaviors among people living in poor and rural households.
“As countries like Vietnam stand
poised to advance economically, poor sanitation and hygiene practices threaten
to cripple our progress, creating a breeding ground for illness, decreasing the
productivity of adults and threatening human lives,” said Nguyen Minh Chau,
Vietnam country director for East Meets West – the agency entrusted to receive
the sum from the foundation.
“We’re working with our local
partners to […] ensure healthier communities.”
To invest the sum of donation for
maximum effectiveness in Vietnam, EMW will consult and go in partnership with
local agencies as the Vietnam Women’s Union, Vietnam Bank for Social Policies
and the Health Environmental Management Agency of the Ministry of Health.
Since 1988, East Meets West has
invested over $105 million in Asia, and is now running programs in Vietnam,
Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines and Timor Leste.
MINH PHÁT
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