World Vision Water Update: July 2020

Impacts of COVID-19 on Children

Experts agree that the greatest threat children face from during the pandemic is not getting the COVID-19 virus, but, rather, the secondary impacts caused by a disruption in healthcare, loss of family income leading to the inability to buy food, and missed education. UNICEF estimates that these disruptions to childhood well-being could increase child mortality by up to an additional 6,000 deaths per day. The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that 320 million children are missing meals they would normally receive in schools.

For these reasons, World Vision’s global COVID-19 emergency response in 70 countries will reach 36 million children. We’re working to ensure that the spread of the virus is reduced through hand-washing education and the provision of clean water, and World Vision is also providing food to vulnerable families and is helping ensure that children are able to continue their education.

Combating Malnutrition

In this newsletter, we’ll focus on one aspect of World Vision's approach to improving childhood well-being, and that’s the critical intersection of our work to provide clean water, hand-washing education, and sanitation with our work to address malnutrition.

Working with the WFP and other partners, WV is a leading provider of food during emergencies and we’ve further increased this work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, it takes more than food to overcome malnutrition. Here’s why:

It’s estimated that half of malnutrition is attributable to diarrhea caused by unsafe water, poor sanitation, and insufficient hygiene. Viruses, bacteria, and parasites present in unsafe drinking water, and transmitted to other people by unclean hands, can cause severe diarrhea. This reduces the body's ability to absorb nutrients during the episodes of diarrhea, and can also cause long-term damage to the gut, making it harder to absorb nutrients over time.

The result of this malnutrition is growth stunting. Children with stunting will have reduced ability to play, reduced height, and reduced brain development leading to lower intelligence. Unfortunately, in the areas where World Vision works in Africa, about one-third of children have growth stunting. In Rwanda, the situation is even more severe with two out of every five children having growth stunting.

As part of our effort to reach everyone, everywhere we work with clean water in the entire country of Rwanda, we are working to reach the most vulnerable and address malnutrition.

We’ve created 500 early childhood development centers in Rwanda. At these centers, World Vision is providing clean water on premises, safe sanitation, and hand-washing facilities. Additionally, at these childhood development centers, children can gather for meals prepared by their parents. The children are taught healthy behaviors like proper hand-washing education through play and the parents are shown how to grow nutritious foods that will lead to catch-up growth of the children.

Before the pandemic, I traveled to Rwanda to see our work in these early childhood development centers and we’ve created a video that shares the story of Emmanuel, a young boy who has recovered from malnutrition, and is now thriving! Here’s the video:

Addressing malnutrition is critical during this pandemic and this work will have a lasting impact in creating a better future for Rwanda. It’s one more way that our water work is more than just providing clean water – it really changes everything. Thank you for being part of our efforts.

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Prayer Requests

Pray that World Vision and other developmental organizations can prevent the devastating secondary impacts of the pandemic that are predicted for the developing world.
Give thanks that World Vision has learned how to be extremely effective in addressing malnutrition through our water, sanitation, and hygiene programs combined with feeding programs.
Ask God to spare his children in the developing world as the pandemic begins to surge in many countries that have no resiliency and inadequate and already overburdened health care.