KABUL (TCA) — Officials from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced on January 7 that it plans to launch a two-year program to help Afghan children and their families get access to safe drinking water in 27 provinces across Afghanistan, TOLOnews reports.
The Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development has said that the UNICEF will provide $43 million to implement the program in 2018 and 2019.
Ministry officials said the ministry of rural rehabilitation and development also plans to invest $22 million for clean drinking water projects and hygiene.
“These projects enable us to help the villagers get access to clean water. We have achieved major progress in addressing the issue of water shortages,” said Minister of Rehabilitation and Development Mujiburrahman Karimi.
“We believe that water, sanitation and hygiene are essential for a child’s health and nutrition. And we also believe that water and sanitation and hygiene are very important for the children to go to school and stay in school. This is why UNICEF is interested in working on water sanitation and hygiene matters,” said UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan, Ms. Adele Khodr.
According to UNICEF, over the past two years, it has successfully completed drinking water programs in various parts of Afghanistan which helped over 500,000 people to get access to clean water.
Within the framework of the current program, UNICEF will help over one million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to get access to clean water.
