Teso sub region has the highest number of children whose access to safe and affordable water services has greatly improved
Housing living conditions in every country are a key indicator of how well citizens, children inclusive, are living. In the case of Uganda, this is a mandatory requirement imposed on the government especially under the Children’s Act, the Constitution and also the Sustainable Development Goals no. 6 and 7.
Goal 6 is directly related to the ease with which access to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities for all citizens is guaranteed. Goal 7 requires that governments ensure that the same is affordably, reliably and sustainably accessible for especially the children.
The 2024 census report shows that Teso sub region has the highest number of children whose access to safe and affordable water services has greatly improved. The report puts Teso sub region at 97% of children having access to vastly improved water sources followed by Ankole at 59%. This improvement depicts easy access to tap water, boreholes, springs and protected wells among other sources.
The same report shows the percentage of children living in homes or households whose members or inhabitants can access clean and safe water sources within less than 1km radius from their place of abode. At the national level, 48% of Uganda’s children live in homes which can access their water source within 1km radius. When it comes sub regions, Buganda leads with 54% of its children able to access safe and clean water within less than 1km from their homes.
Other sub regions rank as follows: Busoga 52%, Acholi 51%, Elgon 50%, West Nile 48%, Bukedi 48%, Ankole 46%, Bunyoro 46%, Tooro 45%, Kigezi 45%, Lango 42%, Teso 40% and Karamoja 31%.
The census report also makes reference to the proportion of Uganda’s children living in homes or households with limited or constrained capacity to afford safe, clean and decent energy sources. That in Karamoja, 59% of the children live in homes which can’t afford better than gasoline, paraffin or even candles as sources of energy for lighting their surroundings at night. Other statistical sub regions rank as follows: West Nile 26%, Acholi 26%, Bunyoro 17%, Buganda 13%, Tooro 23%, Ankole 19%, Kigezi 25%, Lango 15%, Teso 13%, Busoga 33%, Bukedi 42% and Elgon 44%.
