Over 17 Million Women and Girls Collect Water in Africa, at Risk of Assault and Disease

At least 17 million women and girls in Africa collect water every day, which increases their risk of sexual abuse, disease and dropping out of school, a study published on Wednesday has found.

It is one of the first studies to calculate how many women and children were responsible for water collection in Africa, the researchers said.

Using datasets from the World Bank, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, researchers found that around 3 million children and 14 million women collect water in sub-Saharan Africa.

"The absolute number of adult females affected by this practice was a shock to me," Jay Graham, lead author of the study, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-africa-women-water-idUSKCN0YN5GO

UNICEF Ethiopia

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