As we discussed water
sanitation and hygiene in class this week, it was significant to know that 2.5
billion people still don’t have access to safe water, every day around 2000
children under age 5 die globally and almost 1800 of the deaths are related to water sanitation and hygiene. Even though, unsafe water,
hygiene, and excreta disposal are three environmental challenges of Global
Health in developing countries but Public Health systems also in developed
countries face such challenges as well and most of the times they fail to
improve the health of low social groups. There are many factors beyond the
control of Public Health systems such as policies, laws, “inequities in
regulatory enforcement,” (Frumkin)
disparity in socioeconomic status, funds, and the most important one in my view
is people in the communities. When we
talked about water scarcity and sanitation, the comments were made in class
about people fight over water because of water scarcity or water sanitation,
made me think that if people knew their rights of having sanitary water they
wouldn’t fight over it among themselves. Most of the time environmental health problems
persist and remain unresolved despite all the efforts that the Health
organizations have made; one reason is because people may not know it is their
rights to have healthy environment. The other reason is that the government and
public may not be informed clearly about existence of issues associated with environmental
health problems, so the role of Public Health in this situation is to inform both
public and the government about those issues and delineate the ways that they
can overcome the problems. If health issues are identified by public then they get
motivated to collaborate with public health officials to help resolve those
problems. The goal of public collaboration is to engage people in a dialog
regarding the current surrounding issues and help them to provide strategic
plans that they know work the best for them and their culture. The result of
such collaboration is associated with achievement in environmental equity and
healthy environment in shorter time. The next step is addressing the
environmental health issues to the government and those who provide funds to
support such programs by demonstrating the collected data and evidence, and
also encourage people to participate in order to have their voices heard. Public
health organizations also should address “economic and social factors such as
housing, transportation, job creation, green space, and recreation-factors,” (Frumkin) which contribute to health and
well-being. In addition, the cost effectiveness of such programs seem superior to
other interventions of public health programs in this matter. Last but not
least all of these efforts are impossible without having motivated leadership,
people commitment to change, and well establish strategic plans.
Environmenta Health from global to local by Howard Frumkin
www.unicefusa.org On World Water Day Children
Dying Because of Unsafe Water and Poor Sanitation
UNICEF/WHO:
New Plan to Address Pneumonia and Diarrhea Could Save 2 Million Children a
Year(April 12, 2013)
I think you have some very good comments regarding clean water and the accessibility of it. You discussed how more people and the government needs to be informed about the lack of clean water and sanitation in certain parts of this country and the world. I definitely agree with this, however I do think there are many hurdles to overcome. Even with information, people will not always act. Since we live in a developed nation, we do not see these certain issues on a day to day basis. Therefore, it becomes difficult for people to understand the depth of the problem. What do most people do when they see a video or commercial of the living conditions of other countries? Turn to the next channel or have a moment of sympathy and then walk away. Educating the people about the issues that are taking place needs to be taken a step farther. How can we really reach them? How can we bring that problem alive in their own life to see the day to day burdens of no water?
ReplyDeleteI think you made a great point about "encouraging people to participate in order to have their voices heard." We have talked so much about empowerment and listening to the marginalized populations instead of making decisions as the funding source.
I think when it comes to change, the community level can be the hardest to convince of the effectiveness and necessity of new ideas and policies. When it comes to policy makers and researchers creating new interventions and ideas for public health at the community level, they are using previous experiences and knowledge from many different sources. The people within these communites, especially in developing countries, can be aware that their situation isn't ideal or that something needs to be changed. However, the uncertainty of what might happen, expecially when life has stayed the same for so long, can be a huge barrier to overcome for the masses. Like Jaci said, "even with information, people will not always act," and I think fear is a huge part of that.
ReplyDeleteEmpowerment is a huge part of overcoming hurdles, but at a fundamental level, if these marginalized populations don't know their options, and aren't educated on the topics such as creating a clean water source, or applying for grant money from the government, it can be problematic and overwhelming to the community. I think NGOs can be a soultion for these communities, by making these options and solutions seem realistic, and convincing the locals that this is within their reach with a little solidarity.