Water and Sanitation
On Friday, I wrote about the deadly cholera outbreak in Haiti and I wanted to update you all with developments from over the weekend. At least 253 people have died, and another 3,015 cases of cholera have been reported in the Lower Artibonite region, about 60 miles north of the capital Port-au-Prince.
The good news is that for now, the outbreak has been contained to the central and rural regions around the Artibonite River and has not reached Port-au-Prince, where crowded and unsanitary conditions in tent camps for earthquake survivors are highly favorable for the spread of cholera.
Additionally, the Haitian government, humanitarian community and aid agencies are all working closely together to continue monitoring the outbreak and provide necessary supplies such as soap, water purification tablets and rehydration salts to prevent new infections and aid the sick.
For those interested in learning more, check out the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) — they frequently post situational updates on their website.
Health officials in Haiti are reporting a severe outbreak of cholera that has killed at least 138 people during the last 48 hours and is the nation’s worst medical emergency since the earthquake in January. Another 1,526 cases have been documented in the Lower Artibonite region north of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Cholera is a severe and deadly disease that rapidly travels throughout a community when people drink water or eat food contaminated with the bacteria. Cholera causes severe diarrhea and vomiting which can lead to dehydration, shock and consequently death in only a matter of hours. In an outbreak such as this, the main source of contamination is from the feces of an infected person which can spread quickly throughout areas with poor sewage treatment and a lack of clean drinking water. Although the cholera outbreak is not directly linked to the devastation caused by the earthquake in January, it is another reminder of the daily struggle many Haitians face living in one of the poorest and least developed nations in the world.
Cholera has not occurred in Haiti in over 100 years and this recent epidemic raises serious alarm bells in a place where the population and infrastructure is weakened and the health system overburdened. Officials worry that the disease could spread to the camps set up for the earthquake survivors where crowded conditions and lack of adequate sanitation make the camps extremely vulnerable to an outbreak. Humanitarian groups are rushing aid supplies to the outbreak region and in the coming days officials will be continuously monitoring this fast-moving outbreak.
![image[1]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1327/5103323968_c140dc0bce.jpg)
One of the most taboo topics in development that you don’t hear often is the lack of toilets in the developing world. To bring awareness to this issue, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, AED, PATH and Water Advocates are releasing a new documentary titled, “World’s Toilet Crisis.”
An estimated 40 percent of the global population does not have access to a toilet and is forced to defecate in public or communal spaces, a common practice that enables the rapid spread of diseases like diarrhea. And during a TED event in September, Melinda French Gates called this issue a “public health threat.”
In Melinda’s experience, simply building a toilet does not change sanitation in communities. When a toilet is presented as a “modern, trendy convenience,” popularity in usage increases. She cites one example where an innovative marketing campaign from northern India ties toilets to marriage. “No loo,” one headline read, “No ‘I do.’”
If you are in the DC area, please join the Pulitzer Center on Thursday, October 28 at 7 PM. for a free screening and reception at 1875 Connecticut Ave, NW (corner of T Street). A panel discussion with Lisa Biagiotti, producer of the film and multimedia journalist for PBS and Current TV, Peter Sawyer from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and Janie Hayes from PATH will follow the documentary.
You can watch the trailer for the documentary and RSVP for the event at the Pulitzer Center website.
This post is part of our contribution to Change.org’s Blog Action Day 2010, an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers with the goal of sparking discussion and collective action. This year, more than 3,000 bloggers are writing about water, a global issue that affects everyone.
Okyereko Rice Cooperative Association in Ghana
It’s really hot today and I’m thirsty. Would you pour me an ice-cold glass of food?
Sounds absurd, I know, but achieving a number of development goals –- meeting global food security needs and building better futures (essentially, eradicating poverty) — has a lot to do with water for food. That is, availability and access to clean water for poor people in rural areas that rely on agriculture for their employment, food, nutrition and health.
Growing food requires a lot of water. Globally, agricultural production uses 70 percent of the world’s fresh water. Last time I checked, that’s HUGE, especially when you start to think about water scarcity in regions like the Middle East and parts of sub-Saharan Africa. These places suffer from exponential population growth and quickly changing climates leading to erratic and more violent weather patterns and events.
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As mentioned on the blog last night, the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act (S. 624) has passed the Senate by unanimous consent! This piece of legislation, introduced by Senators Durbin (D-IL) and Bob Corker (R-TN), seeks to reach 100 million people around the world with sustainable access to clean water and sanitation over the next six years. The Act would demonstrate the United States’ continued leadership on this issue and build on progress already made. Last year, the U.S. helped provide almost 2 million people with first time access to an improved source of drinking water and more than 1.5 million people to improved sanitation! As the UN Summit on the MDGs is underway in NYC, it’s also worth mentioning that it would enable further progress towards achieving MDG #7.
Here’s what the Water for the World Act would do:
- Target underdeveloped countries with focused initiatives to improve access to clean water and sanitation;
- Foster global cooperation on research and technology development, including regional partnerships among experts on clean water;
- Provide technical assistance and capacity-building to develop expertise within countries facing water and sanitation challenges;
- Provide seed money for the deployment of clean water and sanitation technologies; and
- Strengthen the human infrastructure at USAID and the State Department to implement clean water and sanitation programs effectively and to ensure that water receives priority attention in our foreign policy efforts.
And last night Senators Corker and Durbin issued a joint press release praising the bill’s passage. Here’s a key excerpt:
“Access to safe drinking water is a right that everyone in the world ought to enjoy but too few are able to realize,” Durbin said. “Water access is no longer simply a global health and development issue; it is a mortal and long-term threat that is increasingly becoming a national security issue. The United States needs to do much more to ensure that global water access is protected and expanded.”
“The needs around the world are tremendous, but our foreign aid dollars are limited. We need to make every single penny count by better focusing and coordinating our efforts,” said Corker. “A lack of clean water leads to the deaths of 1.8 million people each year – 90 percent of them children. It stifles economic growth, keeps women and girls from going to work and school, and has contributed to political unrest in Sudan and elsewhere. Experts tell us every $1 invested in safe drinking water and sanitation produces an $8 return in costs. I’m a fiscal conservative and want to see each of our foreign aid dollars go as far as possible, and I believe water is one of the wisest places we can invest.”
The bill will now go to the House of Representatives. We’ll have more developments as they occur!
This is very big– and very exciting– news. The Water for the World Act just passed the Senate by unanimous consent. This important legislation can make a tremendous impact for the world’s poorest people by helping to improve water and sanitation in developing countries.
We’ve been big advocates for the Water for the World Act here at ONE. You may recall we ran a campaign in support of it recently. We’ll have more analysis of this development shortly. Stay tuned!
John Sauer of Water Advocates reports his experience of World Water Week live from Stockholm.
This RainWater Bag could be a lower-cost and practical solution for mainstreaming rainwater harvesting.
This week, thousands of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) experts, and hundreds of members of the media came together in Stockholm for World Water Week to discuss solutions to the world WASH challenge.
David Trouba of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council suggested that “solving the sanitation crisis would be a more momentous accomplishment for humanity than the building of the Great Wall, the Apollo Moon Missions or the construction of the Pyramids.”
At present, the dire fact is that 1.2 billion people have to crap in the open — polluting drinking water and causing diarrheal-disease — while suffering the insecurity and indignity of open defecation. The consensus of the participants is that the world could, should and will solve this problem.
One of the specific outcomes of World Water Week was a statement targeted as a wake-up call for the High Level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that will be held in less than two weeks.
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