Water coolers at Stepping Hill Hospital are also helping to provide water elsewhere for developing areas in Africa.

The water coolers were installed for the use of staff and patients by the estates and facilities department of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, together with AquAid, which funds charitable projects with The Africa Trust.

Since the coolers were installed earlier this year, over £2000 has already been raised direct from Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, which has helped purchase a new water pump for villagers in Manicaland – a province in the north eastern highlands of Zimbabwe.

One pump can produce up to 10,000 litres of potable water per day, supplying over 300 people within the community, who are now able to collect clean drinking water, and water for other productive use every day.

To date, AquAid and The Africa Trust has organised over 8,000 pumps being built, servicing more than 2 million people in communities across Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Of the pumps installed, 95% are still in operation today – a figure 40% above the average for the continent.