By Danielle Beurteaux
Yellow fever. Typhoid. Malaria. Polio. These deadly yet preventable diseases are all too common in Uganda because people don't have access to clean water. "Infant mortality rates are unacceptably high," says Jeff Kaplan. "You hear about lots of disease and lots of missed school and lots of hard life."
The solution? Build wells.
Kaplan, 43, a partner at $2 billion health-care fund Deerfield Partners, is the cofounder and Africa liaison of Busoga Trust America, an organization that helps villagers in the rural Masindi area of northwestern Uganda construct wells so they have access to potable water.
The problem, says Kaplan, is twofold. First, Uganda has the water—the country...