Amazon Clean Water & Nutrition

Lack of potable water has the greatest impact on the world’s poor. In the Amazon rainforest, marginalized Indigenous peoples have little or no access to education or healthcare and subsist on less than $1 a day, making them particularly vulnerable to the consequences of illness. Providing communities access to clean water will reduce these risks and allow them to live healthier lives.

The Amazon Clean Water & Nutrition initiative is a collaborative pilot project between The Waterbearers and Edesia Nutrition to save children’s lives and improve the health of the Indigenous peoples of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

While malnutrition cannot be considered a waterborne disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 50% of undernutrition is associated with repeated diarrhea of intestinal worm infections from unsafe water or poor sanitation or hygiene.

Water, Disease & Malnutrition

Ecuador has the second-highest level of chronic childhood malnutrition in Latin America. Our primary focus is on the Indigenous Achuar and Shuar communities living in Morona Santiago. Located near the Peruvian border, Taisha has the country’s highest childhood (chronic and acute) malnutrition rate at 47%.

Monica Ayala Cruz, District Health Director for Taisha and our implementation partner, notes that “Clean water would significantly impact the reduction of parasitosis. It would reduce diarrheal diseases, one of the main causes of community morbidity and mortality.”

Edesia Nutrition is a non-profit social enterprise that makes life-saving ready-to-use therapeutic foods to help end the global hunger and malnutrition crisis. Since 2010, partnerships with UNICEF, the World Food Program, USAID/USDA, and others have nourished over 16 million children across 62 countries. www.edesianutrition.org

Ready-to-use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) is a life-saving peanut-based paste made from milk powder, peanuts, soy, oil, sugar, and vitamins and minerals called Plumpy’Nut. It does not require water or refrigeration, can be administered at home and can rehabilitate a child under 5 in just eight weeks.

“Having Plumpy’Nut available would greatly reduce the number of emergency flights to transport patients to and from the hospital and alleviate the high cost of medical care and financial burden on the families.” – Monica Ayala Cruz.

Our goal is to improve the community’s overall health with access to clean drinking water through filtration. The pilot project aims to improve the health outcomes of 300 children under five diagnosed with moderate to acute malnutrition.

For thousands of years, the Amazonian Indigenous peoples have protected the rainforest by respecting the environment, wildlife and nature. Now they need our help!