Seven per cent of health facilities in the country either use water from an improved source that is more than 500 metres from the facility, use an unimproved source or have no water source at all.
A report by Unicef shows that nearly half of rural Kenyans lack access to basic water services, with many relying on unsafe surface water to meet their daily needs.
Improved drinking water sources are those that, by nature of their design and construction, have the potential to deliver safe water.
“In general, drinking water services are worse in rural health care facilities than in urban ones, public facilities than private facilities and smaller health care centres than hospitals,” the report says.
As a result, thousands of women and school-age children, mostly girls, spend hours walking long distances to fetch water, which may be of poor quality, limited quantity or unaffordable.
According to Unicef, more than 1.5 million people globally die annually from diarrhoea, most of them infants and small children due to unsafe drinking water.
Unicef says diarrhoea can contribute to reducing the nutrient and protein uptake of children, worsening underlying malnutrition.
“The world is not even close to being on track to meet the 2030 SDG goals. For example, at current rates, just 37 per cent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa will be using safely managed drinking water by 2030,” it says.
Similarly, safe water is important for managing morbidity associated with neglected tropical diseases such as trachoma, schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted infections.
These diseases require safe water to reduce or interrupt transmission and prevent infections from increasing.
The report calls on the government to create an enabling policy environment that supports higher service levels in households, healthcare facilities and schools, so that safe, abundant, on-premises drinking water becomes the norm.
The report warns that climate change presents increasing risks to water sources, such as changing rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, increased water temperatures, extreme droughts, floods, wildfires and violent storms.