Coronavirus has not yet peaked in Zambia, but observers are involved in the country’s ability to an outbreak of the disease.
By Claire Kurnick, Circle of Blue
Elizabeth Mwanza, is one of many Zambians who have no running water in the house and is based on advertising kiosks, which leaves Mwanza involved in collecting water during the pandemic.
Limited hours have caused congestion at kiosks when water is available, making social estrangement almost impossible. Mwanza is involved in possibly not collecting water safely, as the government advises citizens to wash their hands as a precaution against coronavirus. For Mwanza, this requires more water than usual.
“It’s hard to follow the rules if the water source is irregular,” Mwanza said.
As in other parts of Africa, the coronavirus soon arrived in Zambia, where the first case was recorded on 18 March. Currently, the country has 2,980 instances shown and 120 deaths.
Although the number of instances shown is small, there is a concern. It is now winter in Zambia, and the Ministry of Health has projected that this is the season when the country expects to see an increase in the disease.
A case under much at a time of greatest problematic threat Bubala Muyovwe, coordinator of the NGO WASH Forum, a non-governmental organization dealing with water, sanitation and hygiene in Zambia.
Muyovwe said many Zambians did not know anyone who suffered from the disease and wondered if Covid-19 was real. He fears Zambians will relax in hand washing and doubt the ability of Zambian agencies to meet urgent water needs.
Even now, there’s not enough water. Muyovwe described coronavirus as a “disease that shows the inequalities that exist.”
According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, some 6 million Zambians, just over part of the country, do not have normal access to safe water. Without hygiene measures such as hand washing, Americans are more sensitive to Covid-19.
Many Zambians have to leave their homes to buy water. In urban areas, citizens have water kiosks through public services. Residents pay for the 20-litre can. This makes water use an economic decision: use water to drink or wash your hands?
The water charge for Americans in the country can be tricky to pay. About 58 percent of Zambians earn less than the foreign poverty line of $1.90 a day.
Muyovwe once saw a woman “squeeze lemon juice in her water” in an attempt to wash because she may not have soap. For many Zambians, resources like soap are considered a luxury.
Increasing the water source right now will be easy. Zambia’s government entered a currency crisis as a result of the pandemic. As a result, Muyovwe said social sectors such as water, sanitation, hygiene, fitness and schooling are the first to suffer budget cuts.
Both Mwanza and Muyovwe want their government to provide Zambians with the resources they want to fight coronavirus. Muyovwe has noticed hand washing in some communities, such as the informal village of Kalingalinga, which manufactures hand washing stations to install outdoors in some small businesses. Meanwhile, agencies like the NGO WASH Forum have donated much-desired resources to intensify hand washing. Both women said water and soap deserve to be available more easily.
A challenge in times, water and hygiene deficits are even sharper today.
“The water deserves to be in abundance, especially in the fight against the coronavirus,” Mwanza said.
Discover the delight of Mwanza with WASH and Covid-19 in Zambia below. Video © NGO WASH Forum.
Claire Kurnick is a summer intern at Circle of Blue and recently graduated from the University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in global studies. It focuses on foreign aptitude and progression. Claire has traveled through East Africa and the South Pacific focusing on peace studies and clashes, as well as social and environmental progress. Claire has long resided in the State of the Great Lakes of Michigan and has dedicated her educational concentration to sustainable progression methods to protect herbal resources to improve life criteria good enough for generations in the long term. Claire not only has a hobby for traveling, but also for the outdoors.
We may request that cookies be placed on your device. We use cookies to tell us when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user’s fun and to personalize your appointments with our website.
Click on the other topics in the category to be more informed. You can also override some of your preferences. Please note that blocking certain types of cookies may affect your enjoyment on our websites and the facilities we may offer.
These cookies are strictly mandatory to provide you with the data available on our website and to use some of its functions.
Since these cookies are strictly mandatory for the delivery of the site, you cannot refuse them without affecting the operation of our site. You can block or delete them by converting your browser settings and forcing the blocking of all cookies.
These cookies collect a form that is used in aggregate form to help us understand how our online page is used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our online page and app to suit your experience.
If you don’t need us to stay on our site, you can disable tracking in your browser here: Click to enable/disable Google Analytics tracking.
We also use external installations such as Google Webfonts, Google Maps and external video providers. Because these providers may collect non-public information, such as your IP address, we allow you to block it here. Please note that this can especially reduce the capacity and appearance of our site. The settings will take effect once you have reloaded the page.