African Water Development Report 2006 - United Nations Economic ...

ing. These include Ethiopia, the Niger, Benin,Central African Republic, Mauritania, Madagascar,Guinea, Togo, Nigeria, Mali and the Sudan.African countries with better prospects formeeting the goal but where challenges are stillsubstantial are nine, namely, Chad, Namibia,Côte d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi,Cameroon, South Africa, and Burundi.Consideration of the link between inadequateaccess to water supply services and the incidenceof water-borne diseases such as diarrhea led tothe identification of eight countries in whichwater supply coverage is less than 50 per centand diarrhea prevalence 20 per cent - 40 per centof households. These countries include Angola,Burkina Faso, Chad, the Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea,Guinea, and Mauritania. A similar analysisfor sanitation services produced 13 Africancountries with coverage rates below 50 per centand diarrhea prevalence 20 per cent - 40 per cent.These countries which therefore have a greaterneed for urgent action are shown in table 1.9 asAngola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central AfricanRepublic, Chad, the Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea,Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, the Nigerand Togo.The Millennium Project report also quoted a recentWHO cost-benefit analysis which showedthat achieving the MDG target in water and sanitationwould bring substantial economic gainsfrom both health and other benefits. Each US$1invested would yield an economic return of $3-$34 depending on the region. Improvement insanitation, hygiene and water contributes to improvedhealth, generates savings for householdsand national health budgets and contributes tothe savings of poor households through reducedcosts and loss of time. Saving time would allowfor productive activity and school attendance, especiallyfor girls (www.thelancet.com, 2005).Table 1.9: High-need African Countries identified by different assessment projectsINTRODUCTION - WATER FOR SUSTAINABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTSource: MDG Millennium Project Task Force on Water and Sanitation, 2005.21