31 Pinoys die of diarrhea daily

Some 31 Filipinos, mostly children, die from diarrhea everyday due to poor
sanitation, according to a recent study of the World Bank and United States
Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Economic Impacts of Sanitation in the Philippines study funded by World
Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) and USAID’s-Environmental
Cooperation-Asia showed that P77.8 billion have been accounted for health-care
costs and lost wages yearly as a result of poor sanitation.

The report cited the Philippines’ Statistical Yearbook 2008 as stating high
incidence of diarrhea cases, more than 38 million per year, leading to the
premature deaths of 31 Filipinos a day.

The report said 27 million Filipinos do not have toilets and are at risk of
ingesting human fecal, adding that the health impact from water pollution, poor
sanitation and hygiene comes from contact with human waste through ingestion.

According to Lisa Kircher, Director of USAID-EcoAsia Project in the Philippines,
the lack of toilets, sewage systems and operational wastewater treatment
facilities causes many Filipinos to contract water-borne diseases.

The report said a single gram of human waste can contain 10 million viruses, a
million bacteria and a million parasite cysts.

Once human waste enters the body, the bacteria, parasites and viruses can grow,
causing symptoms such as diarrhea, which is common among bacterial infections
such as dysentery, cholera, hepatitis A and typhoid,? Kircher explained.

The World Bank report said there are 13 million Filipinos who do not have
improved water sources and only 3.3 percent of the households are connected to
sewers leading to treatment facilities.

Access to basic sanitation is 20 percent less for low-income households and
access to water supply is 17 percent lower, said Rahul Raturi, sector manager
for environment and rural development of World Bank.

The report also noted that more than 95 percent of the wastewater in urban areas is deposited untreated into groundwater, canals and waterways.  Michael Punongbayan

 

Post Date : 18 Februari 2008