The paucity of clean water for domestic use has
led to the increase in the number of deaths in both the urban and rural parts
of developing economies. And India is no different. Women and children spend
millions of hours each year fetching water. The chore diverts their time from
other important activities (for example attending school, caring for children,
participating in the economy, relaxation). For each $1 invested, the World
Health Organization (WHO) estimates returns of $3 – $34, depending on the
region and technology.
The WHO says that the lack of access to clean
water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet
crashing every four hours. . Together they account for approximately one
in six deaths among children younger than five years. Of India’s more than
2.3 million annual deaths among children, about 334 000 are attributable
to diarrhoeal diseases.
In a recent report released in 2012 on the
Progress of Drinking Water and Sanitation by the UNICEF -
Children under five represent 90 per cent of all deaths caused by diarrheal
diseases. 2 In 2011, more children under the age of five died in
India than anywhere else in the world. That’s 1.7 million children – over 4,650
child deaths a day – according report by the United Nations Children’s
Fund. India stands out for the prevalence of diarrhea as a killer of
infants. Diarrhea was responsible for 13% of child deaths in India in 2010 –
the second-highest rate after Afghanistan across the globe.
Globally, improving water, sanitation and hygiene
has the potential to prevent at
least 9.1 per cent of the disease burden, or 6.3 per cent of all deaths.
Principal transmission routes of
disease
- Water based disease transmission by drinking contaminated water is responsible for significant outbreaks of faecal-oral diseases such as cholera and typhoid and include diarrhoea, viral hepatitis A, cholera, dysentery and dracunculiasis (Guineaworm disease)
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