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January 17, 2014
17 Jan 2014

Toilets in Nigeria, Human Waste links to Diseases

toilets_in_nigeria_human_waste_diseases
The small town of Kyuzhi in Nigeria is now giving fines to those who do not use toilets and defecate in the open, all of which is part of a water protection initiative to stop the dangers of human waste in small communities. Locals, furthermore, have the opportunity to take toilet education workshops where they learn the dangers of exposed human waste.

According to UNICEF, over 45 million Nigerians defecate in the open, an action stated as being the primary cause of high infant mortality in the country. When children are undernourished, diseases such as cholera or even parasitic infections can become deadly.

It has been over a year since members of the Kyuzhi community began to understand the problem with open defecation. By coming together and following a plan to improve community hygiene, an environmental task team was formed. They now fine 2,000 Naira or $13, to those violating the agreement and since last year only 3 have been caught defecating in the open.

Workshops in the community, moreover, allow locals to see how human waste and disease are linked.

Community leaders, women and youth take participants to an open defecation site in the forest and explain how crucial it is to stop this behavior. Mothers are now teaching their children the proper way to go to the restroom and if they see other children in non-designated sites, they seek out and speak to the children’s mothers. Several agree that this is the best way to keep the community clean and though some remain emotional about this confrontation, they are now using toilets.

More toilets and defecation sites have been set up for the locals of Kyuzhi and in due time local diseases will diminish, setting up an exemplary model for other developing communities.

– Maybelline Martez

Sources: UNICEF, DW.DE
Photo: Deutsche Welle

in Global Poverty /by /#permalink
August 24, 2013
24 Aug 2013

Sanitation and Clean Water is an Issue In Liberia

In 2003, Liberia finally came out of a thirteen-year long civil war that ravaged the country and left the inhabitants riddled with poverty. Right after the end of the war, the unemployment rate was listed at 85 percent of the population. The populations in the slums skyrocketed and the people living there were left with little choice of where to obtain water or where to use the bathroom. During the war, rebels destroyed much, if not all, of the water and sanitation infrastructure the country once had. A decade later, much of the population is still impoverished and lacking access to the basic needs of potable water and a sanitary living area. In 2010, there were almost 4 million people living in Liberia, over 1 million of which were rural poor. However, there is a stress for clean water in slums, from where a number of people from rural areas fled to Monrovia during the fighting and violence in an attempt to find refuge. For every four people, there is one living without access to clean water and sanitation in Liberia, and for every five deaths in the country, one is a result of contaminated water sources. In fact, in 2012, the World Health Organization discovered that E. coli was present in 58 percent of the city’s water due to public defecation. This spreads illness such as diarrhea and perpetuates the issue, creating a cycle of illness through dirty water. Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has pledged to double the amount of access to safe water in four years, but has clearly fallen short of this claim. Phillip Marcelo of Rhode Island’s Providence Journal is spending two weeks in Liberia this month to investigate what progress has been made since the end of the war and the installation of democracy within the country. He notes that at the entry to the slums at West Point Beach, there is a massive pile of trash marking the place. The defecation of children is all over the beach and people are being forced to buy their water from “distributors.” While adults have been banned from using the beach as a bathroom and there are pay toilets in the slum, there is often still no other option. Because of this, the spread of cholera is common along with other water-borne diseases. The government is opening up nine new toilets for the area, but the inhabitants are not sure a real difference can be made considering there are more than 50,000 people living the area. Aid groups are investing time and money into providing Liberia with better access to clean water, with the hope that this will cease to be an issue in the coming years, if not in time to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Non-profit organization Waves for Water has raised $15,100 towards the goal of $25,000 to help provide clean water filters for over 60,000 people living in poverty in Liberia. WaterAid, another NGO, also works in Liberia and happens to be an organization for which President Sirleaf is an ambassador. Last year, they were able to reach 17,000 people and provided them with clean water or sanitation facilities. Help for Liberians is out there and there are solutions to the present issues, but it will take a while to recover completely from the devastation of the war. Simply put, it is going to take plenty of hard work and a revamp of the entire infrastructure of the country in order to change the conditions of those living in the slums of Liberia. – Chelsea Evans Sources: Providence Journal, Rural Poverty Portal, Waves for Water, PBS, WaterAid Photo: Sanitations Update

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  • $30 billion per year is needed to end world hunger.

  • $660 billion per year is the amount Congress spends on Defense.

 

in Global Poverty, Health, Liberia, Nonprofit Organizations and NGOs, Sanitation, War and Violence, Water, World Health Organization /by /#permalink
January 22, 2013
22 Jan 2013

Time to Defeat AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria

fight-against-aids-tuberculosis-malaria
Today, Mark Dybul, the newly-appointed Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB, and Malaria, released an article discussing the timing of eradicating those three diseases. Previously, Dybul was the Global AIDS Coordinator serving the President of the Unite States. This article stated that there is a “big push” across this country to defeat AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. There currently exists an amazing opportunity in global health, due to certain scientific advances. Dybul claims, “If we can harness the funds needed, we can essentially take these diseases off the table as threats to greater development.”

The important part of the elimination of AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, is the timing. Dybul worries that the world may miss the opportunity to eliminate these diseases, because infectious diseases tend to find new forms that require more scientific research to beat. Therefore, the sooner the global community attacks these diseases, the better chance they will be permanently moved off the table of globally threatening diseases.

Dybul continues by saying that preventing these diseases benefits everyone, and that it would be an incredible investment for the world. The patients, families, and larger communities are able to secure their economies and thrive without the threat of devastating diseases. In addition, the removal of disease allows the population to stabilize. Without the worry that infants will not make it to adulthood, mothers have less children, and the world population will settle down. This can only be a positive to the global community.

In order to fund the eradication of these diseases, the global health community must make the money count. It is a valuable decision to invest in health; Dybul wrote, “When you can keep a man or woman with AIDS alive on drugs that cost $125 a year, compared with $10,000 a year just one decade ago, that is an outstanding investment.” The global health community must also focus on impact. This helps programs prioritize activities and risks. People who donate want to know the impact of their money.

Dybul also mentions other things the global health community should do for this to occur: be accountable and transparent, work together, and always be learning. The Global Fund started in 2002, and if it abides by these guidelines laid out by Dybul, there is an incredibly opportunity to control AIDS, TB, and Malaria, three major diseases that affect the world. It is time to control these three diseases without waiting to need more scientific advances, and if the Global Fund receives enough funds, this eradication of diseases will be a reality.

-Corina Balsamo

Source: Huffington Post
Photo: Huffington Post: The Big Push

in Malaria, Tuberculosis, Uncategorized /by /#permalink