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Safe
Water and Nutrition
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WHO reported
that 1.1 billion people do
not have access to safe drinking
water. With emphasis on rural areas
in developing Asian counties, where
there are no plans for public waterworks,
since 2001 we have been investigating
the drinking water quality of water
supply sources in northern Vietnam.
Consequently, we identified contaminants
and defined adequate means to improve
the quality of the drinking water.
The Focus Group Discussion, which
was carried out in May 2004 in the
selected rural areas, confirmed
that people in the communities have
strong willingness to participate
in activities for improving and
sustaining the water quality.
Therefore,
cooperating with people in
the communities, we will aim
to secure safe drinking water,
and to improve health and sanitary
standards by improving the
existing water treatment facilities
and developing a community network
to sustain better sanitary condition.
We expect that these approaches
will reach out for attaining
better nutritional status of children
and women.
To pursue
the approaches, we proposed a
project to JICA (Japan International
Cooperation Agency) seeking
a fund. The project was approved
in December 2004. ILSI CHP Japan
will proceed with the project
to implement the proposed water
management models leading to a
nationwide network for improving
the quality of drinking water
in rural areas in Vietnam.
