Hygiene Sanitaion

1.8 million kids under five years old die every year! This is shockingly 90% of the 2 million people who die every year from diarrhoeal diseases just because of poor hygiene and lack of proper sanitation practices. WHO (World Health Organization) says that most of these kids are from the estimated 2.4 billion people globally who live under very unsanitary conditions and have such poor hygiene behaviors in developing countries.

 

Poor hygiene sanitation practices are the major cause of the spread of diarrhoeal diseases and other infectious diseases like tuberculosis.

 

Diarrhea is an incapacitating symptom caused by one or more viral or bacterial infections, such as rotavirus, cholera, typhoid, shigella, pathogenic E coli and salmonella. These infections are almost always transmitted as a result of improper hygiene sanitation practices, leading to an adult or child ingesting contaminated food or water. Dehydration results from frequent diarrhea which then results to death. Lack of proper hygiene sanitation can therefore lead to death of very young children.

 

Tuberculosis, or TB, is an infectious bacterial disease affecting the lungs caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Poor hygiene sanitation practices can cause the spread of TB because like the common cold, it spreads through the air. People who are sick with TB in their lungs and do not practice proper hygiene sanitation in the places they live, work or even just visit for a while can easily infect others because when infectious people cough, sneeze, talk or spit, they propel TB bacilli, into the air. Anyone who inhales just a small number of these TB germs can get infected.

 

 

Fortunately, there are a lot of treatments available for these two infectious diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) has many programs and projects implemented in most of the developing countries most affected by these diseases. Part of these programs is teaching the basics of proper hygiene sanitation practices making sure that water and food is safe for consumption.

 

You may say that only people living in developing countries are dying from these diseases because of their poor hygiene sanitation practices. True, but it is also a fact that anybody around the world can get it. World Health Organization (WHO) says that more than two billion people, one third of the world’s total population are infected with TB bacilli. One in every 10 of those people will become sick with active TB in his or her lifetime. While by not just washing your hands, you can easily get diarrhea.

According to recent reports from the World Bank’s Disease Control Priorities Project, about 90% of the cases of diarrhea worldwide can be prevented by proper hygiene sanitation practices and adequate water supply. Good hygiene sanitation practices acts as a fundamental barrier to isolate fecal matter and reduce air borne microbes from the environment. 

 

The basic hygiene sanitation practice of hand washing with soap and water is still the best way to prevent any disease from spreading.