Dubai: Around 4,500 children die every day from water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid and hepatitis.
Sanitation and safe drinking water are important basic resources that play a big role in the health and prosperity of individuals, yet more than 880 million people around the world do not have access to healthy and clean water.
Water-borne diseases largely target children as international reports found that of the 3.4 million people who die every year as a result of thirst or lack of clean water, 90 per cent are children under the age of five.
Mohammad Abdullah Al Haj Al Zarouni, head of Emirates Red Crescent’s Dubai branch — the organisation in charge of the UAE Water Aid (UAE Suqia) campaign — said there are many factors that lead to scarcity and contamination of water.
“It can be caused because of war, poverty and lack of education. Countries like Lebanon (South of Lebanon) are starting to suffer from drought due to political instability,” he said
According to the Unesco website, common water and sanitation-related diseases include:
Diarrhoea
Diarrhoea is caused by a variety of micro-organisms including viruses, bacteria and protozoans. Diarrhoea causes a person to lose both water and electrolytes. About 4 billion cases of diarrhoea per year cause 1.8 million deaths.
Arsenicosis
Long-term exposure to low concentrations of arsenic in drinking-water causes painful skin keratosis (hardened lesions) and can result in cancers of the skin, lungs, bladder and kidney.
Cholera
Cholera is an acute bacterial infection of the intestinal tract. It can be prevented by access to safe drinking water, sanitation and good hygiene (including food hygiene). In 2002, over 120,000 cholera cases were reported worldwide.
Fluorosis
Fluorosis is a serious bone disease caused by high concentrations of fluoride occurring naturally in groundwater.
Typhoid
Typhoid fever is a bacterial infection caused by ingesting contaminated food or water. About 12 million people are affected by typhoid every year.
Other diseases include HIV/Aids, intestinal worms, malaria, guinea worm disease, schistosomiasis and trachoma.
