At least seven million people in Malawi live in bilharzia-prone areas.
A mass campaign was launched to give drugs to people affected by bilharzia with the aim to reduce infections by the year 2020.
Most of these centers have been established in schools since they mainly target children from ages five to 14.
About three million children – half of the infected population – are receiving treatment for the disease.
Bilharzia is spread through use of contaminated water.
The risk of getting the disease among those in remote areas is especially high.
Prevention and awareness priority The Praziquantel drug which is used to treat bilharzia, used to be administered to children with empty stomachs.
Awareness campaigns have been running through the media, urging parents to take their children for treatment.
Matemba said awareness needs to be increased.
"The most important thing that the government needs to do is to invest into publicizing some of these important messages, because they are going to help the country, more especially in the tourism sector," Matemba said.

Quenching India’s thirst.
A Hyderabad-based company is working hard to provide safe and potable water to millions of people.
Water contamination, one of the biggest problems the world is facing, is an effect of the growing industrialisation.
Dealing with this problem, WaterHealth International, a Hyderabad-based company, has been working towards providing clean water to the under-privileged in rural as well as the urban areas.
For their efforts, they have been awarded the prestigious Unilever Global Development Award, for providing clean, safe and affordable drinking water to the underserved and marginalised communities in India, Ghana and Nigeria at the recently held 20th Responsible Business Awards ceremony, which is an annual event organised by the Business in the Community (BITC), a part of the Prince of Wales’ Responsible Business Network.
Explaining the process of setting up a water-treatment plant, Vikas asserts, “We operate on build-operate-transfer policy.
Once we set-up the plant, we operate it for some time and then transfer it to the local community.” Interestingly, one can get 20 litres of water at as cheap as Rs 5 from the plant.
Many of these people can’t afford branded 20 litres water, which costs around `60-80 per day, and hence are forced to use whatever is available.
While boiling water can help, it doesn’t treat the water completely and it still can be harmful.
We are also working on developing on a device called Autonomous Transportable Operating Module (ATOM), which can be air-dropped at locations hit by natural calamities to dispense fresh water in an hour’s time.

‘Subhuman Conditions’: Largest women’s prison in US without water for days.
Florida’s Lowell Correctional Institution, which holds female offenders between the ages of 14 and 24, as well as pregnant women, has been without running water for several days.
Some inmates have reportedly had to pay for drinking water.
Weekend storms caused damage to the prison’s water pumps, said Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) officials.
"The test and waiting period are to ensure the water is safe to drink.
"They say they’re bringing water in, but they’re telling the girls they have to buy it off the canteen,” a former Lowell inmate wrote on Facebook.
Toilets and sinks are operational using non-potable water being brought into the institution," the FDOC said in a statement.
Carmen Hickman, the mother of one of the inmates, told the Ocala Star-Banner Tuesday that her daughter said the women were so hot and sweaty from lack of air conditioning they were using standing water from toilets to wash. Several people who work at the prison said the stench was so bad in the dorms that officers and other staff have not been able to work, the Miami Herald reported.
She declined to reveal her name for fear of getting fired.
Lowell Correctional Institution, Ocala, FL.

Nigeria’s Chioma Ukonu makes Top 10 of ‘Chivas – The Venture’ 2017!
| Meet Other Finalists.
The 30 finalists of this year’s Chivas The Venture hail from 30 different countries, and have formulated different solutions to make the world a cleaner and better place to live in.
Meet the finalists: Top Ten Recycle Point‘s Chioma Ukonu is from Nigeria and is enabling individuals, particularly from low-income households, to create value from their everyday waste.
Sanivation‘s Dickson Ochieng is from Kenya and is dedicated to improving the overall dignity, health and environment of urban communities in East Africa by delivering clean, safe and efficient sanitation services.
Solococo‘s Daniel Dalet is from the Dominican Republic and has through the production of organic coconut based products (oil, flour, soaps, lotions) provided job opportunities for single mothers in the Dominican Republic.
Sea2see‘s François Van den Abeele is from Spain and is preserving the ocean in style by upcycling sea plastic waste into beautiful designer eyewear.
Sowat‘s Khaled Al Mezayen is from Romania and has designed a portable water purification system that turns any source of fresh water into clean drinking water, using a mechanical process with no chemicals.
First Respond‘s Robin Jun Lu is from China and has built a social enterprise that is dedicated to delivering high-quality first-aid training and services to individuals and businesses.
Smarthead‘s Veronika Osvaldová is from Slovakia and has built a user-friendly online tool that enables companies and individuals to create and promote their socially-responsible activities.

Houston water reservoir $2.36 million.
On July 4, 2017 at the water reservoir tower located past Four Seasons Park, District of Houston council and contractors broke ground for the $2.36 million project.
“The project is funded through the New Building Canada Fund, with the Government of Canada and Province of British Columbia each contributing up to $780,000, and the District of Houston covering any remaining costs,” stated the media release.
The original water reservoir was originally constructed in 1970 and the new water reservoir is scheduled to be complete by December 2017.
“Having access to safe and reliable drinking water is essential to developing healthy and sustainable communities,” said the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.
“The Government of Canada is pleased to provide support to the District of Houston to address their water quality issues so that families can safely and confidently drink, bath, and cook, and the community can grow and prosper.” The design features of the new water reservoir, which will replace the District of Houston current water tower and continue to provide residents with a supply of clean drinking water, is a fiberglass structure encased in a concrete frame and foundation.
“It will include the construction of an approximately two kilometer transmission line from the new structure,” stated the media release.
“The district is grateful for the funding provided through the New Building Canada Fund for this much needed update to our community’s water system,” said mayor of Houston, Shane Brienen.
“The funding provided by the Government of Canada and Province of British Columbia will help us to ensure that clean water is available for home usage and fire protection for generations to come.” TRUE consulting will oversee the construction of the water reservoir, STT Enviro Corp is supplying the water reservoir container, and Canadian Western Mechanical is the general contractor that will be building the water reservoir and the two kilometer transmission line.
[gps-image name=”7591916_web1_170712-HTO-water-tower_2.jpg”]

Billions of People Lack Safe Water, Sanitation.
A new report finds more than two billion people lack access to safe drinking water and more than twice that number or 4.5 billion people lack safe sanitation.
The report by the World Health Organization and U.N. Children’s Fund is the first global assessment of water, sanitation and hygiene for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The United Nations reports nearly 850,000 people die every year from lack of access to good water, sanitation and hygiene.
This includes more than 360,000 children under age five who die from diarrhea and many others from diseases such as cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid.
The joint report by the World Health Organization and U.N. Children’s Fund finds people living in rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are most at risk of disease and death from poor water and sanitation-related sources.
He says many homes, healthcare facilities and schools have no soap and water for handwashing.
UNICEF Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Sanjay Wijesekera says such progress would have a knock-on effect on other development areas.
“For children, access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene not only keeps them alive and healthy, but it gives them a chance to go to school and gain an education.
Open defecation is practiced by more than 890 million people, mainly in rural areas, who have no toilet or latrine.

Do you use the Internet?
The new FCC chairman, Ajit Pai, is leading a dangerous effort to roll back net neutrality rules that keep Internet service providers (ISPs) from engaging in data discrimination, like slowing down Internet speeds for some content and charging a fee for “fast lanes.” Team Internet is speaking out Wednesday to defend net neutrality.
Here’s the key problem net neutrality rules help fix: Because most Americans have only one choice for high-speed broadband service, ISPs such as Comcast (cmcsa, +0.83%) and AT&T (t, +0.64%) have tremendous power to funnel customers to their own content, or offer “fast lanes” to a few platforms that can pay for special access to customers.
Net neutrality rules prevent them from doing that.
That idea has helped foster an explosion of economic growth.
Anyone who wants to offer a new Internet service can reach everyone on the Internet, without paying extra fees to any provider.
Users, in turn, can make their own choices about which services they want to use—including the next Twitter (twtr, +2.95%)/Facebook (fb, +2.34%)/Snapchat (snap, -1.26%) that’s being created in someone’s basement right now.
That idea has also helped galvanize a wealth of political expression and organizing.
Conservative activists from around the country coalesced over various social networking platforms to form the Tea Party movement.
So Team Internet is stepping up once again to tell the FCC that it works for the American people, not Comcast, Verizon (vz, +0.76%), or AT&T.

Billions of People Lack Safe Water, Sanitation.
A new report finds more than two billion people lack access to safe drinking water and more than twice that number or 4.5 billion people lack safe sanitation.
The report by the World Health Organization and U.N. Children’s Fund is the first global assessment of water, sanitation and hygiene for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The United Nations reports nearly 850,000 people die every year from lack of access to good water, sanitation and hygiene.
This includes more than 360,000 children under age five who die from diarrhea and many others from diseases such as cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid.
The joint report by the World Health Organization and U.N. Children’s Fund finds people living in rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are most at risk of disease and death from poor water and sanitation-related sources.
He says many homes, healthcare facilities and schools have no soap and water for handwashing.
UNICEF Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Sanjay Wijesekera says such progress would have a knock-on effect on other development areas.
“For children, access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene not only keeps them alive and healthy, but it gives them a chance to go to school and gain an education.
Open defecation is practiced by more than 890 million people, mainly in rural areas, who have no toilet or latrine.

“We’ve set performance standards for coal ash contaminants to ensure that families who use these filtration systems will have water that meets or exceeds federal and state standards.” On DEQ’s new list of standards is chromium VI, or hexavalent chromium, listing 10 parts per billion as the limit.
Scientists at DEQ and those at the Department of Health and Human Services disagreed on what was considered a “safe” level of chromium VI in drinking water.
In one of the meetings, DHHS scientist Ken Rudo advocated for permissible chromium VI levels at 0.07 parts per billion, 1,400 times more stringent than the federal standard.
DEQ at that time estimated that more than half of public water systems in the state would need to tell residents not to drink their tap water if Rudo’s standard was used.
Much to the dismay of DEQ, Rudo moved forward with sending “do not drink” notices to 400 homeowners, but later had to rescind them.
Cooper pulled the issue into a live campaign debate, saying he would have backed Rudo, supporting a chromium VI level that is much lower than that for bottled water.
“One of the things I’m going to do is listen to the scientists,” Cooper said during a televised gubernatorial debate in October 2016.
Chromium VI, however, is a carcinogen in high concentrations.
Recently, a California state court knocked back efforts to establish a chromium VI limit of 10 parts per billion.
In that case, the court ruled that the chromium level established by the state’s Department of Public Health was not economically feasible and efforts to comply with it would raise household water prices between $64 and $5,000 annually, depending on the size of their water system.

Government of Afghanistan signs $482.3 million new financing.
KABUL, July 12, 2017—The Afghanistan’s Ministry of Finance today signed a financing package of $482.3 million in grants with the World Bank to help the country through a difficult phase in its struggle to end poverty.
“Today’s signing of the new financing reaffirms the World Bank Group’s commitment to the Afghan people as they strive to overcome daunting development challenges compounded by a difficult security environment,” said Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank Country Director for Afghanistan.
“We are encouraged by the government’s determination to build upon progress to date in several areas, including institutional reforms, revenue generation, and provision of basic services in health, education, and rural access sectors.” The $482.3 million financing package consists of seven grants: $172 million in additional financing from IDA ($127.7 million) and the ARTF ($44.3 million) to the Citizens’ Charter Afghanistan Project to support communities with internally displaced persons and returnees from Pakistan; $100 million from IDA to the Inclusive Growth Development Policy Grant to support reforms that expand access to economic opportunities for the vulnerable and promote private sector development; $20 million from IDA to the Urban Development Support Project to strengthen urban policy-making in national agencies, and reinforce urban management and service delivery in five provincial capital cities; $60 million from IDA to the Herat Electrification Project to provide access to electricity to households, institutions, and businesses in selected areas of Herat Province; $20.3 million from IDA to the Afghanistan Strategic Grain Reserve Project to finance establishing strategic wheat reserves and improve the efficiency of grain storage management; $105 million in additional financing from the ARTF to the Afghanistan Rural Access Project, which aims to benefit rural communities through access to all-season roads.
The IDA grant of $127.7 million of the $172 million to the Citizens’ Charter Afghanistan Project (CCAP) – Additional Financing signed today will be provided by the IDA’s Emergency Regional Displacement Response Fund.
The $100 million to the Inclusive Growth Development Policy Grant (DPG) will assist the government with meeting the development objectives articulated in the Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework (ANPDF).
The DPG will specifically support an ambitious government reform program that aims at expanding access to economic opportunities for the vulnerable and strengthening the policy and regulatory framework for private sector development.
The $60 million to the Herat Electrification Project aims to support Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) to provide electricity to some 230,800 people, and 1,600 institutions and businesses in selected areas in Herat Province.
The project also finances assistance to the implementing agency, DABS, for procurement and project management, as well as assistance to the Ministry of Energy and Water in developing the legal and regulatory framework for grid integration.
The original grant for ARAP was $332 million ($125 million from IDA and $207 million from the ARTF).