Bring Safe Water to School Kids in Vietnam

MEDRIX's mission is to save lives and improve the quality of life in Southeast Asia by providing medical, education, and safe water projects. Thanks to your donation, we will be able to continue cultivating safe water projects in 2014 while encouraging sustainability at a local level. 

MEDRIX began by providing education to medical professionals in Vietnam.  However, during the course of this work a reoccurring theme emerged – lack of safe water severely impacts the quality of health throughout Vietnam and access to safe water would help solve many of the health problems. Diarrhoeal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old, and is responsible for killing around 760 000 children every year; a significant proportion can be prevented through safe drinking water and adequate sanitation and hygiene (World Health Organization 2013).

• Disease-causing organisms
• Chemicals harming human health

After realizing this, MEDRIX staff began work on drinking water projects in the late 1990s. The first projects involved funding new wells for schools and health clinics. After a few years, MEDRIX leadership made the decision to shift the focus toward improving water quality by treating existing sources of water making them safe to drink. This focus was in line with the MEDRIX goals of improving the health of people living in the rural areas.

What Your Donation Will Do in Vietnam in 2014

MEDRIX continues to partner with the Department for Preventative Health in Vietnam. Our goal is to continue the successful installation of water treatment styems in rural schools. Candidate schools in Vietnam have most of their populations living near the poverty line. Our successful installations and sustainable operations over the last two years strongly convince us that we are following the right approach. Our 14 previous installations in schools all continue to operate successfully, and improve the sanitation habits of countless children from the communities. 

In 2014, MEDRIX has dedicated $5,000 to install six new water systems to promote safe drinking water in schools. The systems will vary in size depending on school size. Since the schools run for 11 months out of the year, it is important to install systems that will effectively provide safe drinking water depending on the number of students. In our calculations, it will roughly cost only $1 per student each month. Your generous donation will be going directly towards making this happen. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of these children and encouraging a healthy future for generations to come in Vietnam.