Uganda: The problem of unsafe water and poor sanitation – in pictures

Christine Mbabazi lives in Bwaise, a slum in the capital city, Kampala, located at the bottom of a gully that often floods, filling her home with contaminated water and human waste. In 2004 her son Stephen died from cholera caused by the poor conditions Photograph: Benedicte Desrus/WaterAid Photograph: Benedicte Desrus/Action images The Bwaise slum is a maze of rubbish, unplanned housing, mud and human waste Photograph: Benedicte Desrus/WaterAid Children collect water that has flowed through waste-filled gutters. Community leaders say at least three children die from diarrhoea in the Bwaise slum every month Photograph: Benedicte Desrus/WaterAid Photograph: Jake Lyell/WaterAid 'I can't forget my son. I feel the pain of losing him all the time,' says Mbabazi. 'And now I worry that my other children will get sick. Whenever it rains, there is contamination but what can I do?' Photograph: Benedicte Desrus/WaterAid Photograph: Jake Lyell/WaterAid Patients queue to see Dr Emu Silva at Amuria Health Centre, in Amuria, north-east Uganda. The centre serves a community of 350,000 people and the majority of patients are sick with sanitation and water-related diseases such as diarrhoea or dysentery Photograph: Jake Lyell/WaterAid Photograph: Jake Lyell/Action images Some patients are lucky enough to have a bike to reach the clinic, but most will make the long, difficult journey by foot. Others stay at home in their villages and don't get the medical treatment they need Photograph: Jake Lyell/WaterAid Dr Silva says providing clean water and sanitation would prevent three-quarters of the centre's admissions. Diarrhoea is the biggest killer of children under five across Africa Photograph: Jake Lyell/WaterAid Dr Silva says there is no reason for these diseases to be so prevalent: 'We cannot afford to have our people die from illnesses which can be stopped. We don't need rocket science to prevent them' Photograph: Jake Lyell/WaterAid Globally, 2.6 billion people live without access to a safe toilet, while almost 1 billion don’t have clean, safe water. The WHO estimates that 10% of the global disease burden could be prevented with safe water, sanitation and hygiene Photograph: Jake Lyell/WaterAid Half of the hospital beds in the developing world are filled with patients suffering from sanitation and water-related diseases, adding to the challenges of already overstretched health systems Photograph: Jake Lyell/WaterAid