Media coverage of Africa often emphasizes food shortages in the
continent’s sub-Saharan countries, but a 2010 survey shows the
continent’s more pressing need is clean drinking water.
Gallup Inc. surveyed people in 17 African countries and 67 percent of
those surveyed who had enough clean drinking water said they never went
without enough food. In comparison, of those who did not have enough
clean drinking water only 46 percent said they never went without food.
Access to clean drinking water is one of the United Nation’s major
goals. In Africa, the problem varies from country to country. Botswana
residents were most likely to have good access to drinking water, while
people in Burkina Faso and Chad have the most trouble finding potable
water.
Unfortunately, because of drought and governmental indifference, the
problem seems to be worsening. In Senegal, about 52 percent of those
surveyed said water is getting harder to find. In Burkina Faso, which
sits at the edge of the desert, 90 percent of those surveyed are having
increasing problems finding drinking water.
This has global implications because as water becomes scarcer,
conflict over water — unthinkable in most other parts of the world —
could ignite into armed conflicts.
Gallup conducted face-to-face interviews with 1,000 adults age 15 and
older in 2010 in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal,
Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
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