Africa's Water Crisis and Disease
Writing and discussing the issue of unclean water and resulting sickness and disease usually encompasses four basic terms.
Water-washed disease is caused by a scarcity of water, making it impossible for people to wash themselves, their clothes and their homes in an adequate and consistent manner. Skin or eye contact with contaminated water can result in a range of problems. A sound preventative is adequate washing with uncontaminated water. Trachoma, Scabies, Leprosy and Yaws are examples of water-washed diseases.
Waterborne disease is the result of ingesting contaminated water, particularly water contaminated by human or animal waste. Unclean water used in cooking can create a range of food-borne disease as well. Among waterborne diseases are Cholera, Typhoid, Hepatitis A, Amoebic and Bacillary dysentery and a wide range of diarrhea-type diseases.
Water-based disease is a disease spreading from water containing parasites living in contaminated water. Schistosomiasis, for example, can result from either drinking parasite-laced water or the water passing through the skin, via an open wound for example. The Guinea worm problem has been particularly prevalent in Africa. Ingested by drinking contaminated water, once the Guinea worm is in the human body, it eventually pierces the intestinal wall and grows up to 3 feet long. It is very painful, having to be manually removed very slowly.
Water-related insect disease is any disease spread by insects that breed and feed near dirty water. This category of disease is not directly related to scarce water or lack of sanitation. Yet they are, as the name implies, water related. Malaria and River Blindness fall in this category.
Read more on the various categories of water-related disease at http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/en/
AHM NewsSource-2008
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