A community based health and hygiene model

The first democratic government in 1994 inherited an estimated backlog of 12 million South Africans mainly rural without access to safe water and another 21 million without sanitation. By 1999, 5.6 million rural people and 4 million urban people had improved water and sanitation access. Despite these achievements, the current Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry noted that at the current rate of delivery it could take the sector 20 years to attain the sector’s goals of providing potable water to the rural populace. The government has embarked on a programme of accelerating the provision of adequate sanitation for all by 2010.