Clean Water, Healthy Lives: P&G Purifiers Tackling Waterborne Diseases in Children

When three-year-old Suatha Mohamud fell gravely ill with persistent stomachaches, diarrhea, and fatigue, her mother, Halima Bule, feared the worst. “She had become so weak,” Halima recalls. “I didn’t know what to do. The nearest health centre is far, and I had no money for transport or treatment.”

In Yagora village, like many others across Garissa County, families have relied on unsafe water for generations—collecting it from rain-fed ponds and surface run-off, often contaminated with human and animal waste. The health consequences, particularly for children, have been devastating. 

Halima tried everything, including traditional herbal remedies shared among women in the community. “Many of our children suffered the same stomach problems,” she explains. “We used herbs because it was all we had—but they didn’t work.” 

Then, one timely intervention changed everything. During a routine community outreach, Save the Children visited the area and screened children for illness. Suatha was found to be suffering from a serious waterborne infection and diagnosed with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). She was immediately enrolled in an outpatient therapeutic programme, receiving ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), essential medicine, and follow-up support from trained health workers. Slowly, Suatha began to recover. 

“The health officers told me it was a waterborne disease,” Halima says. “But we had no other option—the dam was our only source of water.” 

As part of the intervention, Halima’s family received P&G water purifiers along with training on how to use them. She was also enrolled in a cash transfer programme, which she used to buy nutritious food.

Now we eat well,” she smiles. “My children are no longer falling sick from dirty water. The purifiers changed our lives—we now drink clean, clear water instead of the brown, muddy water we were used to.

Once a mother struggling to protect her family, Halima has now become a community advocate. “I feel empowered,” she says. “I’ve started teaching other women how to use the purifiers. Most of them now use it—and we’re all seeing the difference.” 

Her elderly mother, 80-year-old Habiba Ibrahim Kassin and grandmother to Suatha, expresses deep gratitude. “I’ve lived here since the 1990s,” she says. “Back then, children and even adults would die from stomach problems and diarrhea. There were no doctors, no treatment, no hope. But now Save the Children comes. They bring us water treatment. We just pray that they also drill us a borehole like in the other villages.” 

Through funding from partners like P&G, Save the Children is delivering a multi-faceted response to the worsening effects of Kenya’s climate crisis. This includes nutrition screening, cash assistance, water trucking, and the distribution of PUR water purification sachets. Each household receives a three-month supply along with practical training on safe use and disposal. 

By working closely with public health officers and local government, Save the Children is ensuring that families like Halima’s don’t just survive—they begin to thrive. For children like Suatha, this support has meant a second chance in life. For their mothers and grandmothers, it has restored dignity, knowledge, and hope for a healthier, more secure future. 

In the dry, windswept plains of Uhiyo village in Mbalambala Subcounty, water has always been both a lifeline and a hidden danger. For years, 34-year-old Fatuma Aden Luhus and her family relied on a nearby dam, their only available water source. But the water was far from safe. 

“Our children didn’t know how to use the few toilets in the community,” Fatuma recalls. “Everyone, including adults, would relieve themselves in the bushes. When it rained, all the human and animal waste would wash straight into the dam, and that’s the water we drank.” 

The effects were devastating. Fatuma’s youngest daughter, four-year-old Nahwa Abdirahman, suffered the most. She was constantly battling diarrhea and stomachaches, growing weaker by the day. “Among my three children, Nahwa was always sick,” Fatuma says. “It drained her health, and there was nothing I could do. We had no other choice.” 

Everything changed when Save the Children conducted a community outreach in Uhiyo. Health workers screened children and quickly uncovered the extent of the crisis. “Many were suffering from serious waterborne illnesses like dysentery, typhoid, and cholera—diseases that hit young children the hardest,” says Brian Achoki, WASH Officer at Save the Children. 

Families received treatment, hygiene training, and life-saving P&G water purifiers to treat their drinking water at home. The local dam was fenced off to reduce contamination, and more toilets were installed to improve sanitation. 

It’s been life-changing,” Fatuma says. “Now we treat our water. My children no longer fall sick all the time, and they can finally go to school without missing classes like before.

What was once a cycle of sickness and fear has become a story of recovery and renewed hope. For the first time, Fatuma and other families in Uhiyo have access to safe drinking water, and with it, a sense of dignity and protection. 

This transformation is part of Save the Children’s broader mission to protect children from waterborne diseases in Kenya’s flood- and drought-affected regions. After five consecutive failed rainy seasons and devastating floods in 2023 and 2024, thousands were displaced, and local water sources became dangerously contaminated. Through integrated outreach combining health screenings, hygiene education, access to safe water, and medical care, Save the Children is helping communities like Uhiyo safeguard their children’s health and build lasting resilience in the face of climate-driven challenges. 

By Samfelix Randa.