"Preventing contamination of stored water can cut the incidence of killer diseases."
To truly understand the predicament of water-related disease in slums, you have to understand these storage practices. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Putting the lid on a silent epidemic
High population density combined with a lack of toilets and open defecation means that slum residents are exposed to the faeces of hundreds of other people, and all of these bacteria can get introduced into stored water. Studies of urban slums from around the world have found diarrhoea to be one of the top two causes of death for children under five years.
There is growing international public health consensus about the need to make household water storage safer. A safe water system has the potential to greatly decrease child deaths, hospital visits, and missed days of work, resulting in increased economic productivity.
While addressing the tap water contamination is important, the tragic reality is that there is an even larger silent epidemic of household water contamination that remains unaddressed. This epidemic undoubtedly extends to innumerable other city slums and villages across India with intermittent water supplies, which lead to prolonged water storage. It presents a unique opportunity for the government to intervene on a mass scale with simple, cost-effective interventions to reduce diseases that are major killers of children.
High population density combined with a lack of toilets and open defecation means that slum residents are exposed to the faeces of hundreds of other people, and all of these bacteria can get introduced into stored water. Studies of urban slums from around the world have found diarrhoea to be one of the top two causes of death for children under five years.
There is growing international public health consensus about the need to make household water storage safer. A safe water system has the potential to greatly decrease child deaths, hospital visits, and missed days of work, resulting in increased economic productivity.
While addressing the tap water contamination is important, the tragic reality is that there is an even larger silent epidemic of household water contamination that remains unaddressed. This epidemic undoubtedly extends to innumerable other city slums and villages across India with intermittent water supplies, which lead to prolonged water storage. It presents a unique opportunity for the government to intervene on a mass scale with simple, cost-effective interventions to reduce diseases that are major killers of children.
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