Access to
water is one of the biggest global health issues to date, but an even bigger
issue is access to CLEAN water. Over 783 million people around the world do not
have access to clean water. This leaves these 783 million people open to a wide
array of problems, such as having to walk miles to find clean water, having
consistent issues with diarrheal diseases, and choosing whether or not to put
their money towards water or medications. Around the world and within the past
century, the rate of water use growth is more than twice that of population
growth.
Yesterday
we had discussed the issue of clean water during class. We talked about how
there were issues with filtering things out of the water, and that is another
important issue that these people around the world have. Not only do they not
have access to clean water, but they don't even have toilets to use. This opens
up a whole new can of worms, especially if the reason that the water is dirty
is because people do not have toilets to use. Sanitation doesn't only refer to clean water,
but it also refers to the establishment of facilities for the safe disposal of
human waste. Sanitation issues are one of the leading causes of disease and
death, and human waste is a huge contributor to dirty water.
The
Millennium Villages Project that is working in Rwanda is currently trying to
design sanitation programs that will increase access to safe and reliable water
sources. At the same time, this project has worked to grow local capacity to
maintain and manage the facilities. Since the project began numerous years ago,
they have been able to implement over 300 miles of new pipes that will bring
safe water to areas all throughout the villages. They have also built multiple
boreholes and water pumps to help with the water shortage. This is just one of
the many initiatives that has been taken to try to help with the water
sanitation issue. Although this has helped these villages greatly, it will not
be enough to reduce the disease burden that comes along with not having clean
water.
Another
program that is working towards the same goal of clean water is the Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene program or WASH. This program is actually working in
collaboration with the Millennium Villages Project to achieve maximum results.
By working in tandem with each other, other goals can be reached at the same
time. For instance, one of the examples that was given in the article talked
about how improved access to clean water can reduce the barriers and increase
the number of girls that are attending school. This would get the world closer
to our goal of achieving universal primary education.
I think
that this is a great goal of these organizations and it would be extremely
helpful if other organizations could adopt the same concepts. Although it is
beneficial for an organization to be focused in one area, it would be
advantageous for organizations to team up and work together towards their
long-term goals. Many challenges still
exist when trying to fix these global health issues, but improvements are
slowly being made.
Prior, T. (2014, September
3). Finding safe water in Rwanda. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
Introduction to the crisis of
clean water & sanitation. (2012, October 11). Retrieved September 9, 2014.
Your post inspired me to learn more about other clean water access and sanitation projects. In my search for other projects similar to the Millennium Villages Project I came across an organization called the ‘Thirst Project,’ which was started by college students in California. This project has since spread to high schools and college campuses all over the United States with the goal of spreading awareness about water issues of the developing world and raising money to dig wells in developing countries. From the Thirst Project website (http://www.thirstproject.org/the-problem/) I learned that roughly 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to safe, clean, drinking water and proper sanitation. I was shocked to learn that the number equates to roughly 1 in 8 of us, and that 4,100 children die everyday from water-borne diseases. Clean water and proper sanitation is a serious global issue! Before your post I knew there was an issue with access to clean water, however I didn’t know the impact of this topic.
ReplyDeleteFrom discussing water sanitation problem last week, I think that developing innovative simple solutions and depends on local recourses may help to solve a big part of that problem. I think that the terminal solution to this problem will be by developing a good infrastructure, but this may be not possible on the near future for the low income countries which suffer more from that problems. Simple solutions like boiling water, chlorinate the water, manage water access, and digging nearby wells may help as a near by solution.
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