Clean Water for Students in Haiti

School children display their new LifeStraws^®, portable water filters that help to prevent water borne illness. IMA World Health recently distributed 3,500 LifeStraws^® throughout the Southeast department in Haiti.

Christopher Glass/IMA

For many in Haiti, safe drinking water is much harder to find than simply turning on a faucet.

To help provide access to clean water for children in Haiti, IMA World Health has distributed 3,500 LifeStraws^® through a generous donation from Martin Brody and the Rotary Club of Fort Lauderdale.

The delivery was facilitated by Vestergaard Frandsen, a Europe-based international company specializing in complex emergency response and disease control products.

The LifeStraw^® is a portable water filter that can be carried around to provide easy access to safe and clean drinking water.

They are a welcome gift since the nation has been hard hit with cholera in the past several months. Over 50% of schools in Haiti have little to no access to clean drinking water for students.

IMA will distribute additional Lifestraws^® through the network of schools currently involved with the ongoing USAID funded National Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) program.

IMA staff will provide training on the importance of hygiene, stressing how diseases are easily transmitted by drinking non-potable water, the importance of the Lifestraws^® and the correct method of use.

Because of this donation, the lives and health of these Haitian children are being improved each day.