Normally, getting enough and clean water every day is important for everyone’s health, however, for the residents of Gatsibo district in Eastern Province, this is, and has never been the case.

The residents cite that they have been subjected to not only using unsafe water but also drinking and using it for cooking, something that is affecting their health and most importantly that of their children under the age of five.

A case at hand is Celestine Umungerimutabaruka, a resident of Agatoma village in Gatsibo District. She says her 6 and 4-year-old children are always in and out of the hospital because of stomach-related issues.

For this reason, he says most of the time his young ones miss out on school, and to him, this is just more than a health concern issue.

A few meters from Umungerimutabaruka is Chantal Nyirakimuzanye, a mother of two who says the problem has been existing for the last 11 years without any sustainable solution.

"When you need clean water, you have to walk for kilometers to another village. In addition to this, a jerrican costs Rwf100, without any source of income, it's hard to afford this on a daily basis especially those with a big family,” she says.

Because of this, she says most of the residents resort to getting their water from swamps or small wells nearby, which is not clean.

She notes that her children too have been affected and some of them have developed malnutrition due to this.

Stanislaus Ndayishimiye, the village’s local leader says the clean water tap they had got spoiled more than a decade ago, and since then, the residents have been subjected to drinking and using unsafe water, which he says is now threatening their future health in general.

He notes that within his area, there are also other two villages with the same problem and his wish is for the concerned bodies to help provide a solution before it's too late.

Florence Nyiransabimana, a health community worker from the area says the residents are always infected with different diseases, and most children are under the age of five.

She points out that among all the medications they receive from the Ministry of Health, Mebendazole, Albendazole, and praziquantel (which are all medicines for worms) run out of stock more than other medicines because the demand is higher than the supply.

Nyiransabimana says in the three surrounding health centers, on a daily basis, at least more than 3 to 4 children have to visit a health care provider because of stomach-related issues, which results from using and drinking contaminated water.

Meanwhile, Marceline Mukamana, vice mayor in charge of social affairs in Gatsibo District affirms that the problem exists and that the plans are underway to provide a long-term solution to the residents.

She says that for this fiscal year, they have plans of putting clean water taps in two districts namely Gicumbi and  Gatsibo, which she says will be completed by June next year.

The impact on children under five

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) every time young children drink unclean water, they are putting their young lives at risk from diarrhea, malaria, typhoid, cholera, worms and parasites, and trachoma.

WHO states that these are the life-threatening challenges children in developing countries battle every day.

Dr Olivier Manzi, infectious disease specialist at Central Africa (WHO) says absent, inadequate, or inappropriately managed water and sanitation services expose individuals to preventable health risks, and that the problem is even worse for children under five.

He says among the diseases, diarrhea is one of the top three leading causes of child deaths and this is often triggered by consuming unclean water.

For the case above, Dr Manzi says since the residents depend on water from shallow wells, this water can be contaminated with faecal matter, spreading deadly diseases that can impact the general health of people.

He says it is important to note that safe drinking water is critical to the development of a healthy child.

"This simply means that a child won’t experience water-borne illnesses like typhoid, which threatens the lives of children,” he says.

He says safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are fundamental to ensure children are not only healthy but can also and attend school.

For long term impact, Joesph Bugingo, another infectious specialist working at University Teaching Hospital of Butare (CHUB) says unclean water is a real burden in underdeveloped and developing countries, children under five years are among the vulnerable group because they grow up fast, hence need many metabolites, nutrients, vitamins, enough calories.

However, he says, all these processes are negatively impaired by chronicity of diseases related to poor hygiene, recurrence, malabsorption of vital and essential nutrients, and acute and chronic malnutrition, therefore normal body growth is inhibited.

"If this condition is not reversed and unclean water-related diseases are not treated, both the growth retardation and low school performance may result,” he says.

To sum up, Dr. Bugingo says the use of clean water should be everyone’s goal and objective. The government should empower all programs and set clear policies to level up the habit of using clean water.

If the public would use safe water, he says we can prevent millions of diseases.