Vanuatu children at risk of deadly water-borne diseases

MEDIA STATEMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

20 March 2015, 4:15PM

At least 2,000 children on remote islands in Vanuatu at risk of potentially deadly water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, warns Save the Children

Communities on isolated islands in Vanuatu are facing the perilous prospect of dwindling fresh water supplies.

Save the Children is warning that more than 2,000 children are at risk of potentially deadly illnesses like diarrhoea because drinking water reserves have been contaminated after Cyclone Pam battered the country last Friday night.

Save the Children Country Director Tom Skirrow said: “We are hearing reports that children are contracting water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea and the longer these children have to drink contaminated water, the more likely it is they will become sick.

“Some communities are reporting only having about a week’s supply of drinking water left, which could put lives at risk.”

Save the Children has distributed more than 16,000 litres of drinking water to vulnerable communities, and is preparing to ship 5,000 litres to Tongoa Island in the Shepard Islands.

“Many of the communities on outlying islands are telling us they have no choice but to drink contaminated water from tanks and brackish wells littered with debris.”

Cyclone Pam tore through Vanuatu last Friday night impacting 150,000 people, half of which are children.

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