Access
Only about 47% of the Mozambican population has access to an improved water source, and only 17% has access to adequate sanitation. Consequences on living conditions are multiple, ranging from poor health to lower productivity due to the time needed to fetch water.
Figures on access are controversial. For example, the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation estimates access to an improved source of water supply at 77% in urban areas and 29% in rural areas as of 2010. These figures are based primarily on data from the 2003 Demographic and Health Survey. However, the Ministry of Public Works uses the water access figures of 38% in urban areas and 40% in rural areas. The numbers for rural access are derived from the number of boreholes and an estimated average number of households using a borehole.
| Urban (38% of the population) |
Rural (62% of the population) |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | Broad definition | 77% | 29% | 47% |
| House connections | not available | not available | not available | |
| Sanitation | Broad definition | 38% | 5% | 18% |
| Sewerage | not available | not available | not available |
Source: Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation of WHO and UNICEF
There are also conflicting figures about what are the target figures to meet the MDGs for water and sanitation by 2015. According to a World Bank document it means urban access to water increasing to 78% and rural access increasing to 56%. However, according to a MDG status report it means increasing access to 70% in both urban and rural areas.
Read more about this topic: Water Supply And Sanitation In Mozambique
Famous quotes containing the word access:
“A girl must allow others to share the responsibility for care, thus enabling others to care for her. She must learn how to care in ways appropriate to her age, her desires, and her needs; she then acts with authenticity. She must be allowed the freedom not to care; she then has access to a wide range of feelings and is able to care more fully.”
—Jeanne Elium (20th century)
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—William Gibson (b. 1948)
“Oh, the holiness of always being the injured party. The historically oppressed can find not only sanctity but safety in the state of victimization. When access to a better life has been denied often enough, and successfully enough, one can use the rejection as an excuse to cease all efforts. After all, one reckons, “they” don’t want me, “they” accept their own mediocrity and refuse my best, “they” don’t deserve me.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)