Blood:Water Mission is an international nonprofit that partners with African community-driven organizations to end health disparities caused by the HIV/AIDS and water crises. It is based in Nashville, Tennessee, US, and is led by Jake Smith. [1]
Blood:Water Mission's core purpose is to build community through creative social action. [2]
As of 2023, the organization is accredited by the ECFA, Charity Navigator and Give.org. [3]
Blood: Water Mission is a grassroots organization founded by musicians Jars of Clay and author Jena Lee Nardella. [2] It began as a call to personalize the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa by telling the stories of individual Africans.
The organization launched the 1000 Wells Project in 2005 as a nationwide effort to raise enough money to provide clean water and sanitation to 1000 communities in sub-Saharan Africa. This was based on the equation that $1 can provide one person in Africa with clean water for an entire year.
Since its launch, Blood:Water Mission has raised millions of dollars. They have partnered with over 800 communities in Africa, providing life-saving water and health needs for over 500,000 people in 13 different countries.
The organisation has partnered with 33 groups across 12 countries, including Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Zambia [4]
The Leader Collective programme was created to convene, cultivate, and amplify African leadership driving health, development and social change.
The 1000 Wells Project is Blood:Water Mission's main project. It originally had a goal of providing 1,000 communities in Africa with safe drinking water.
Jars of Clay and other artists (Sara Groves, Christopher Williams, Derek Webb, Forever the Sickest Kids, Sixpence None the Richer, Hanson (band), Brandon Heath, Matthew Perryman Jones, Relient K, and many others) as well as authors (Jena Lee Nardella, Donald Miller and Anne Jackson) have raised funds for the 1000 Wells Project during concerts and events since 2005. [5] The organization completed their goal of 1,000 wells in late 2010. [6]
With the September 2006 release of their album, Good Monsters , Jars of Clay partnered with The Global Water Challenge and the Coca Cola Company For each of the first 10,000 album copies sold, the companies would donate $1.00 toward the provision of clean water in Africa. [7]
The 1000 Wells Project has expanded to include a variety of clean water solutions, sanitation and hygiene training. It also funds health clinics, community health workers and support groups, which help in the prevention, treatment, care, and support of communities affected by HIV/AIDS. One such example is a clinic in Lwala, Kenya, which is now independently operated and community-led.
The "Back to School Campaign" encourages people to help provide the funds necessary to ensure that a child does not have to walk miles to collect water each day, but can instead spend that time in the classroom. [8] [9]
Related to the Christian observance of Lent, volunteers raise money while refraining from drinking beverages other than water for 40 Days. [10] Money raised helps build clean water projects for communities in Uganda. Another campaign, Two weeks of Sacrifice takes place over only 2 weeks versus 6. [11]
A group of volunteers raise money for water and sanitation projects for underdeveloped regions in Africa, where young people must travel to natural water sources every day. [12]
The Ride:Well Tour was a cross-country cycling campaign to raise money and awareness for clean water and HIV/AIDS support in Africa. In two years, this raised almost $300,000 to provide clean water projects, clinics and educational opportunities for people in Africa while educating people in the US about the water and HIV/AIDS crises in Africa . [13]
Blood:Water was selected as one of ten Social Innovation Award Winners for 2021 by the Classy Awards Leadership Council. [14]
Jars of Clay is a Christian rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. The members met at Greenville College in Greenville, Illinois.
Partners In Health (PIH) is an international nonprofit public health organization founded in 1987 by Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, Thomas J. White, Todd McCormack, and Jim Yong Kim.
Gospel for Asia is an independent Christian missionary and humanitarian organization, founded by K. P. Yohannan in 1979, focusing on residents of Asian countries and small parts of Africa. The organization is located about five miles southwest of Wills Point, Texas, a small community east of Dallas,Texas. It is affiliated with the Believers Eastern Church.
Alight, formerly the American Refugee Committee (ARC), is an international nonprofit, nonsectarian organization that has provided humanitarian assistance and training to millions of beneficiaries over the last 40 years.
World Concern is a Christian global relief and development organization operating in Africa, Southeast Asia and Haiti, with its headquarters located in Seattle, Washington. World Concern serves approximately 6 million people worldwide and has a staff of 877, with 846 of those being international and 31 based at headquarters.
The Sudanese Red Crescent (SRC) is the biggest and most decentralized and widespread humanitarian organization operating in Sudan. The society developed out of the Sudan branch of the British Red Cross Society and was established in 1956. Upon Sudan's independence in March 1956 received official recognition as an independent National Society following the Sudanese Council of Ministers decree No. 869. The National Society covers nearly the entire country with 15 State branches and several sub-branches/units in the provinces/localities and administrative units, with a nationwide community-based network of 35,000 active volunteers and another 300,000 who can be deployed as need arises. It has well-established working relations with public authorities at federal, state and local levels, and good partnership and collaboration with Movement partners and UN specialized agencies and national and international NGOs working in Sudan.
The Mongolian Red Cross Society is the largest humanitarian organization in Mongolia. It was established in 1939 as part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and is an auxiliary to the Mongolian Government.
The H2O Africa Foundation was an NGO founded by Matt Damon to raise awareness about clean water initiatives in Africa. It was part of the Running the Sahara expedition and documentary project undertaken by Damon, James Moll, LivePlanet, and the Independent Producers Alliance. In July 2009, the H2O Africa Foundation merged with WaterPartners to form Water.org, an organization co-founded by Matt Damon and Gary White of WaterPartners.
The very high rate of HIV infection experienced in Uganda during the 1980s and early 1990s created an urgent need for people to know their HIV status. The only option available to them was offered by the National Blood Transfusion Service, which carries out routine HIV tests on all the blood that is donated for transfusion purposes. The great need for testing and counseling resulted in a group of local non-governmental organizations such as The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), Uganda Red Cross, Nsambya Home Care, the National Blood Bank, the Uganda Virus Research Institute together with the Ministry of Health establishing the AIDS Information Centre in 1990. This organization worked to provide HIV testing and counseling services with the knowledge and consent of the client involved.
NMAC, formerly known as the National Minority AIDS Council, is a nonprofit organization that works for health equity and racial justice to end the HIV epidemic in America. The nonprofit organization, located in Washington, D.C. was founded in 1987. The organization changed it's vision and mission in 2015 to reflect their efforts better. NMAC represents over 3,000 community and faith-based organizations across the US. The agency advances its mission by providing minority and minority-serving faith and community based organizations with capacity building assistance programs, online and classroom-based trainings, printed and electronic resources, grassroots organization and political advocacy. These activities improve the delivery of HIV/AIDS services, helping to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS in underserved and marginalized communities.
HIV/AIDS was first detected in Canada in 1982. In 2018, there were approximately 62,050 people living with HIV/AIDS in Canada. It was estimated that 8,300 people were living with undiagnosed HIV in 2018. Mortality has decreased due to medical advances against HIV/AIDS, especially highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).
In precolonial Ghana, infectious diseases were the main cause of morbidity and mortality. The modern history of health in Ghana was heavily influenced by international actors such as Christian missionaries, European colonists, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. In addition, the democratic shift in Ghana spurred healthcare reforms in an attempt to address the presence of infectious and noncommunicable diseases eventually resulting in the formation of the National Health insurance Scheme in place today.
Starfish Greathearts Foundation is an international non-governmental organization formed in 2001 to help orphaned and vulnerable children in South Africa. Its mission is to help make a difference in the lives of such children via community-based projects working at grassroots level. This enables individual communities to develop their own solutions to fight the challenges they come across. As of January 2022, Starfish projects have reached more than 220,000 children in 110 communities across South Africa.</ref> Starfish Greathearts Foundation.
Africa Humanitarian Action is a non-governmental organization that provides relief services to countries in Africa. It was founded by Dr. David Zawde in 1994 in response to the Rwandan genocide.
Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Civil wars have killed around 250,000 people and displaced many more. The wars ended in 2003 but destroyed most of the country's healthcare facilities. Recovery precedes proceeds, but the majority of the population still lives below the international poverty line. Life expectancy in Liberia is much lower than the world average. Communicable diseases are widespread, including tuberculosis, diarrhea, malaria, HIV, and Dengue. Female genital mutilation is widely practiced. Nearly a quarter of children under the age of five are malnourished and few people have access to adequate sanitation facilities. In 2009, government expenditure on health care per-capita was US$22, accounting for 10.6% of totaled GDP. In 2008, Liberia had only one doctor and 27 nurses per 100,000 people. It was ill-equipped to handle the outbreak of Ebola in 2014 and 2015.
The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) was founded over 30 years ago by Phyllis Tilson Piotrow as a part the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's department of Health, Behavior, and Society and is located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
Jena Lee Nardella is an American author, writer, activist, co-founder and former executive director of Blood: Water, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to put an end to the HIV/AIDS and water crises in Africa. The organization has brought "clean blood and clean water to more than 62,000 Africans in 11 countries."
The Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) is an international, faith-based NGO, providing long-term, co-operative medical and development aid to communities affected by poverty and healthcare issues. It was established in 1912 and officially registered in 1928. CMMB is headquartered in New York City, USA, and currently has country offices in Haiti, Kenya, Peru, South Sudan, and Zambia.
Lesotho is a mountainous and fairly 'water-rich country', but suffers from a lack of clean drinking water due to inadequate sanitation. In recent decades, with the construction of dams for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), Lesotho has become the main provider of water to parts of northern South Africa. Despite the economic and infrastructure development occasioned by the LHWP, waterborne diseases are common in the country and the infant mortality rate from them is high. In 2017, a project to improve the rural water supply in the Lesotho Lowlands was funded by the Global Environment Facility and the African Development Bank, and is ongoing.