Project of Drilling, Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Wells in Niger

Qatar Red Crescent has spent more than 6 months executing medical relief work in Zinder and Tanut Governorate through its health centers, established to treat malnourished children and women. In many cases, God has fully healed a large number of them. Thanks to the follow-up conducted by the Crescent medical team in some cases after leaving the health center, the team members started noticing that some cases that were malnourished suffered a relapse after only two weeks of recovery, forcing the team to study the phenomenon based on reports from other health committees in the state. The team discovered that the reason lies in the pollution of many water wells that became unusable and undrinkable, prompting them to embark on a study of the rehabilitation and maintenance of some key wells in the region. However, some of the villages and cities needed to dig new wells to serve the largest segment of the population.
Therefore, Qatar Red Crescent adopted this project and contributed to its implementation in some provinces (Zinder, Tawa and Falanga), and put a time plan for implementation procedures from August 2006 until July 2007. The project includes the maintenance of 114 water pumps and 102 surface wells and the construction of 40 wells and 60 health units in addition to the preparation of 250 molds for sanitation. Some of the villages where some wells have been provided include the village of Tigara, Garin Ayashi, Dole, Korea, Tinagan, Sansatun, Valma … Many villages are awaiting implementation. The cost of this project is 10,950,000 Qatari Riyals provided as support from the Government of Qatar for the poor and the vulnerable in Niger.
Through the implementation of this project, the Crescent aims to contribute to the alleviation of the daily suffering of a part of the population in Niger. This suffering is represented by the search for potable water sources and the provision of potable water, which contributes to the rapid treatment of malnutrition and raises the level of public health. Statistics show that only 40% of Niger’s population have access to safe potable water. The Crescent aims at reducing malnutrition among children and women, noting that the use of non-potable water contributes to the aggravation of certain diseases, which in turn leads to malnutrition.
In the coming months, the Crescent will seek to provide as many water wells as possible to several vulnerable villages and to maintain some pumps and rehabilitate some wells.