http://www.who.int/csr/don/2008_09_24/en/index.html
The article, “Cholera Outbreak in Guinea-Bissau”, by Amanda O’Donnell, discusses a recent outbreak of the fatal disease Cholera, which we discussed in class. The recent outbreak in Guinea-Bissau infected approximately 14,000 people and killed 225 people total before being controlled by the government. The article states that in the past there have been seasonal outbreaks of Cholera that have infected the people because of a lack of water sanitation, but there has not been a recent outbreak like this one. A water engineer states that the infected water is due to a lack of funding that goes towards the water system, and also the pipes are leaking because they are about 45 years old and in need of repair. Another factor in the flawed pipe system is that the population of the capital city has gone from 60,000, when the pipe system was started, to 350,000 now and of that 350,000 only about 20% have access to pipe-born water, which in itself can be contaminated as well. Because of the lack of water, people have been forced to dig wells in their backyards, which is also dangerous because contaminated run-offs usually are in the water. However, people are trying to help clean up this situation. World Bank has started to build water reservoirs in the capital by laying pipes which has cost them about six million dollars so far. Also, the European Commission has signed a 3.9 million dollar project with the capital to improve its water system. One of the reforms that this project plans to bring to help the situation is to put solar powered water points in communities. The last part of the article talks about the fact that Guinea-Bissau has the world’s fifth-highest mortality rates for children in the world. About one in five children die in this capital before the age of five, and Cholera is definitely a factor in most of these child deaths. So, if the city is able to clean up their water system, they should be able to at least reduce the number of people who contract Cholera.
This article made me appreciate how good we have it here in the United States, because we do not have to worry about diseases such as Cholera. I think that we should try to help countries that are in a state such as Guinea-Bissau is in order to save many people’s lives from preventable diseases such as this one. I also found it helpful knowing the information that I learned in class about Cholera and its symptoms, because without it I would not have gotten such a good understanding of this article.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What im trying to figure out is why they let so many people die before they even started to do anything about it, and why is there no clean water?
ReplyDeleteBut in response to the people trying to help in Guinea- Bissau, im glad that they are actually trying to help and doing something good with their money.
I dont understand why so many people are ignorant about the fact of heaelthy water. Yeah it makes me proud to be living in the United States as well, where health concerns are very high priority. Water is such a necessity to living things, and i am not sure why a water supply should be overlooked.
ReplyDeleteLia, I checked the CIA World Factbook, which clarifies your questions. Guinea-Bissau is one of the five poorest countries in the world, so they have little money to put into anything. Also, a lot of infrastructure was destroyed in a war a decade ago, so help from outside is going to have to help build the country from the ground up.
ReplyDeleteTom, Factbook also gives a good answer to your question: only 42.4% of the country can read, and the average time spent in school is only five years. That kind of education probably doesn't cover microbes.