UNICEF joins forces to launch water and sanitation project in Uganda

1 July 2008 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the European Union today launched a joint, four-year initiative to improve water and sanitation facilities in 21 districts across rural Uganda.

The new project, launched in Kabarole district in western Uganda, aims to increase access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities and to improve hygiene behaviour, focusing mainly on rural schools, health centres and communities.

Although access to safe water has improved in Uganda, many regions still have a poor record and diarrhoeal disease is the second leading cause of infant mortality after malaria.

The initiative targets seven districts in the north, nine in the east and five in the west of the landlocked East African country.