Providing Clean Water and Sanitation in Northeast Vietnam

Children drinking clean water provided through a CWS program in Vietnam.

Photo: CWS

Church World Service-Vietnam

Some 33,000 people in three mountainous communes in Pho Yen district, Thai Nguyen Province, northeast Vietnam, are benefiting from a new clean water supply and sanitary latrines, with the help of Church World Service.

Lack of access to clean water and sanitation is one of the leading causes of illness and death among the poor in Vietnam, where many in rural areas suffer from waterborne disease.

Since 2000, the government of Vietnam has made progress in providing access to clean water and sanitation for rural communities, but many ethnic minority rural communities lag behind. This is particularly true in the mountains of Pho Yen district, where more than one out of four people suffers from a water-related disease.

In Pho Yen, even the health clinics lack access to clean water, thus facing the double burden of treating patients suffering from water-related diseases without having their own clean water.

In response, Church World Service is helping to construct water supply facilities and hygienic latrines for three clinics, and lay pipelines for water distribution to 150 households. Training is being provided on the operation and management of the systems, on prevention and transmission of water-related diseases, and on good hygiene practices.

Your support for Church World Service helps make this program possible.

Updated 4/4/2008

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