The initiative I chose is the World Health Organization’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program (WHO, n.d.). This initiative works with the CDC, ministries of health, and other international agencies to combat inadequate access to clean water and proper sanitation and hygiene practices in economically challenged areas around the world (CDC, n.d.). This initiative has six focus areas aimed at the long-term goals of decreasing poverty and increasing good health around the world (CDC, n.d.). The six goals include: making water safe to drink and use, improving hygiene and sanitation, responding to complex international emergencies and outbreaks, controlling and eliminating disease, identifying and characterizing disease, educating and training about global water, sanitation and hygiene (CDC, n.d.).
Recently, the initiative worked to address the issue of Cholera in the country of Haiti. Cholera is an illness brought on by vibrio cholerea bacteria and it is transmitted through infected feces that makes contact with drinking water or food (CDC, n.d.). Symptoms include diarrhea and dehydration and can lead to death (CDC, n.d). Haiti not only has faced severe poverty and natural disasters, but the cholera outbreak has affected over 800,000 people and killed nearly 10,000 people. WASH combined the effort of WHO, USAID, CDC and UNICEF to bring relief to the area.
