Every monsoon, as floods and the loss of lives and property they inflict claim the limelight, away from the spotlight another epidemic quietly claims even more lives: water induced diseases. Wet season ushers in a spate of stomach infections like typhoid, cholera and diarrhea. It is estimated that four fifths of all diseases in developing countries are water induced. [break]
Among them is malaria, which kills a staggering 1,000,000 people every year—the mosquitoes which carry the disease breed in stagnant water. Diarrheal diseases continue to be responsible for 4 percent of the deaths worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, children in developing countries are the most vulnerable to water borne diseases, where diarrhea is also the leading cause of childhood deaths.
In this context, it is important for the people of Nepal to be prepared for these infectious diseases this monsoon. Spreading awareness about these diseases is the most important measure we can take. In a not too distant past hundreds of lives were lost to diarrhea every year in rural areas, because of the misguided belief that diarrheal patients should not be given any water. The simple knowledge that diarrheal patients need to replenish the liquids they lose by drinking as much fluid as possible has saved many lives in Nepal and elsewhere. Now that this knowledge has permeated widely, we need to build awareness about other diseases that continue to pose a threat to public health.
Most of these diseases are linked to poor sanitation and hygiene. For example, recently there was an outbreak of diarrhea and viral fever in Okharpauwa, which is used as a landfill site by Kathmandu municipality. The fact that the bulk of the burden of these diseases is borne by developing nations in Africa and Asia suggests a strong link with poverty. Sanitation infrastructures, which are considered privileges by a large section of people in developing nations, are sine qua non for public health. Among them are good toilets, well maintained sewage pipes, and provision of safe drinking water. But these measures might take a long time in many developing nations, where arsenic in water is a major public health problem, open defecation is still a norm in large rural tracts, and sewage systems are unable to take the strain and end up overflowing in monsoons.
Vaccinations do not exist for these water-borne infections, which means that eradication is still a far cry, but in the meantime, much can be done by individuals, families, and institutions to fight them and mitigate damages. It is important to make sure that we drink water only from trusted sources, and that it is clean and safe. Food decays more easily in summer so it is important to eat only fresh food and discard food with any signs of decay. Maintenance of a level of sanitation in our households goes a long way towards preventing these diseases. Though the process is undoubtedly slow and arduous, the global burden of water induced diseases can only be reduced one household at a time.
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