![[Senegal] Casamance : Displaced children from southern Casamance play into the used waters in the poor district of Nema 2, outside the regional capital Ziguinchor. Some 23,000 people live in the overcrowded place, most of them have fled the rebels of the](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20068323.jpg.webp?itok=G-zmtexn "Sand filled with toxic lead is being removed from the neighbourhood of Ngane Diaw.")
To eradicate the practice over the long-term activists are calling for the government to launch a public-awareness campaign to demonstrate to people the ravages of lead poisoning.
Meanwhile residents of Ngagne Diaw who have lost their main source of income are at a loss as to what to do next.
No one has any long-term solutions. “We are not yet at the stage of considering alternative livelihoods for these people. Let’s first do the analysis and find the children who have been poisoned… we can find more solutions after that.” Vigneault said.
But he added, “It is of course important to eradicate the source of the problem, rather than simply addressing individual cases – that would be the goal.”
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