Archive for the ‘Water and Sanitation’ category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Safe Water Practices can Help Prevent and Control NTDs

August 26th, 2011

By: Kerry Gallo, Children Without Worms

World Water Week in Stockholm presents an opportunity for those of us working in the field of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) to communicate a clear and unified message to the water sector: by working together, we can make a difference in the lives of millions of people around the world.

Treatment through preventive chemotherapy alone does not break the transmission cycle of many NTDs. Many require environmental improvements to water and sanitation systems coupled with behavior change to promote lasting effects on the health of communities. Effective control strategies for several NTDs such as soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH), trachoma, and schistosomiasis require that communities have access to water and latrines to break the cycle of infection.

Photo courtesy of USAID

Washing foods and hands with soap and water is a critical barrier against infection from STH and other parasitic worm infections. Face-washing to cleanse the eyes of infectious discharge that attracts disease-carrying flies and washing soiled clothing and bedding prevent the spread of bacteria that cause blinding trachoma. Preventing children and adults from swimming, washing clothes, and collecting water in contaminated streams by providing a source of clean water breaks the transmission cycle of schistosomiasis.  In addition, patients suffering from lymphedema, caused by lymphatic filariasis, are encouraged to wash their limbs regularly to prevent infections. Behaviors and actions such as these are needed to prevent infection and morbidity, but in communities where water is scarce and every drop is precious, none will be used for handwashing, bathing, or cleaning if it means going thirsty instead. In communities where water is contaminated and no other sources of water are available, people are left with little choice but to risk infection in order to carry out their daily tasks. » Read more: Safe Water Practices can Help Prevent and Control NTDs

No comments »

Posted in NTDs, Water and Sanitation, World Water Week 2011

Tags:

The Price of Water – Part 2

August 26th, 2011

Below is the second installment of Alanna Shaikh’s two-part series on the cost of water:

By: Alanna Shaikh

If we want people to take water conservation seriously, we’re going to have to make them pay for water. How can we do that in a way that’s fair to poor and vulnerable populations?

So, you’ve got a country with a water system that can be metered. You also believe that water is a human right. What do you do?

You find a middle ground. Our options don’t actually have to consist of Central-Asia style water waste or some kind of grim future where poor people die of thirst, like Dickens where H20 replaces the porridge.

The option I like best goes like this: you get a certain amount of water for free — a reasonable amount per household, based on household size. Everything you use beyond that amount, you pay for; you would set that additional fee high so that the extra fees cover the cost of maintaining the water system. Yes, it makes things like swimming pools or long showers as luxuries, but that seems right to me. A swimming pool is not a human right. Drinking water and good health are.

Kofi Annan framed water and sanitation as a human right during his tenure as UN secretary general, “Access to safe water is a fundamental human need and therefore a basic human right.” And I agree, but access to unlimited water just hurts your community, your environment, and eventually yourself. Enough water and unlimited water are two very different creatures. » Read more: The Price of Water — Part 2

No comments »

Posted in Water and Sanitation, World Water Week 2011

Tags:

Community, Collaboration and Commitment

August 25th, 2011

Drop in the Bucket is a California-based charity that builds wells and sanitation systems at large rural schools in sub-Saharan Africa. Below is an excerpt taken from Drop in the Bucket Director Stacey Travis’ blog -Water in Africa: the view from the ground:

By: Stacey Travis, Drop in the Bucket Director

We will never make any headway in the battle against Neglected Tropical Diseases if we don’t address the issue of sustainability.  The word is becoming so overused these days that it seems to be losing some of its impact and importance. The truth is if you are providing clean water sources without considering the long-term success of the facility, you run the risk of doing more harm than good.

Take boreholes for example. This mechanism used to extract clean water is provided to community through outside funding and resources. Boreholes are great tools to provide access to clean water, however, they need maintenance over time. Over the past few years, I have seen a staggering number of broken and abandoned boreholes. This is the dirty secret that nobody wants to talk about.  It’s almost as if organizations see it as some sort of failure on their part if their hand pumps don’t work forever, but that’s not where the failure lies. » Read more: Community, Collaboration and Commitment

No comments »

Posted in Africa, Water and Sanitation, World Water Week 2011

Tags:

The Price of Water – Part 1

August 25th, 2011

For World Water Week, our regular guest blogger Alanna Shaikh has provided us a two-part series on the cost of water. Take a look:

By: Alanna Shaikh

It’s hard to think about paying for water, but it’s also hard to provide it for free. What’s the middle ground?

As this week makes extremely clear, we can’t rely on water as a free resource any more. Clean water is scarce in many places, and it is going to get scarcer. Growing human populations combined with climate change radically increase the demand for water as it becomes more polluted. We need more safe water even as it becomes increasingly harder to get.

Is increasing water costs the answer? I’d argue yes, and I have personal experience to back it up. I’ve lived in Central Asia for the last ten years. This region is extremely water scarce. In fact, many people think that the first major war over water is going to break out here. There are competing demands of water for irrigation, hydroelectric power, household and industrial use, in a region that is essentially a desert full of mountains. Most of the water comes from snow melt.

And yet people treat water like it’s nothing at all. They leave the taps running in their homes and yards at all times. They water the streets outside their houses to keep the dust down. They wash their cars daily, grow water-intense plants for fun, and pretty much never bother to fix leaky taps or faucets. Some faucets don’t even have taps, so you actually cannot turn them off. Oh, and every big house has a fountain, and not the kind that recirculates. In fact, my very first published piece of writing was an article decrying wasteful water use in this region.

» Read more: The Price of Water — Part 1

1 comment »

Posted in Water and Sanitation, World Water Week 2011

Tags: