Today I was reading this wonderful but terrifying article from UNICEF. For those of you who have not been to India, it is truly terrifying the lack of clean water that is available for most people. I have taken many photos recently of people collecting water from wells and bathing, washing dishes and food in streams, and other 'natural' water supplies. The living conditions of so many of the Indian people I know and meet each day, are so very sad and I believe to be unnecessary.
There are so many sanitation issues in Bangalore, and the governments' corruption will ensure these issues are not resolved any time soon. I am in no place to say how or who should fix these issues but you would think that having 1.2 billion people in India, that it would be a priority for someone. The old adage of 'if it aint broke, then don't fix it' just isn't acceptable any longer - the country is bursting with sanitation issues and it does need fixing.
In a 2011 census (and it hasn't improved since then) it was found that only 123,000 houses of a total of 2,377,000 households in Bangalore actually have toilets. So where are these people 'going' - on the streets of course. I am no longer shocked at the number of people I see urinating or defecating on the streets of Bangalore. I cannot understand how this is NOT a priority to the governments in power. The Bangalore percentage is actually better than the national average of just 34% having decent sanitation facilities.
Our maid Lydia has 2 boys, and her youngest, John, has many issues with his digestive system that have all stemmed from poor sanitation as a baby. As this Unicef article points out, if children have many bouts of diarrhoea when they are young, it can then lead to malnutrition and constant infections as they get older. This is what poor little John has to deal with and it is probably now too late for him to get a 'fix'. Unfortunately, the statistic of 48% of Indian children being malnourished, does not shock me and most of the parents have no idea of the harm they are causing them as babies.
I have no idea how to improve the situation but education of the locals is paramount. I am often amazed at their lack of understanding of basic hygiene. As a simple 'Susie example' that I deal with every day in my house, I am constantly telling Lydia that she needs to use 'different rags' for cleaning the house. She is often found cleaning the bathrooms with a rag and then moves on to my office or the lounge with the same cloth in hand. She sees it all as 'cleaning' with no understanding of moving germs - no wonder I have been sick so many times in 7 months !! But knowledge is power, and if we, as expats, can inform the few people we are involved with on how to maintain better hygiene standards, then maybe the future Indian children have a chance.
A very interesting read : http://www.unicef.org/india/wes.html
There are so many sanitation issues in Bangalore, and the governments' corruption will ensure these issues are not resolved any time soon. I am in no place to say how or who should fix these issues but you would think that having 1.2 billion people in India, that it would be a priority for someone. The old adage of 'if it aint broke, then don't fix it' just isn't acceptable any longer - the country is bursting with sanitation issues and it does need fixing.
In a 2011 census (and it hasn't improved since then) it was found that only 123,000 houses of a total of 2,377,000 households in Bangalore actually have toilets. So where are these people 'going' - on the streets of course. I am no longer shocked at the number of people I see urinating or defecating on the streets of Bangalore. I cannot understand how this is NOT a priority to the governments in power. The Bangalore percentage is actually better than the national average of just 34% having decent sanitation facilities.
Our maid Lydia has 2 boys, and her youngest, John, has many issues with his digestive system that have all stemmed from poor sanitation as a baby. As this Unicef article points out, if children have many bouts of diarrhoea when they are young, it can then lead to malnutrition and constant infections as they get older. This is what poor little John has to deal with and it is probably now too late for him to get a 'fix'. Unfortunately, the statistic of 48% of Indian children being malnourished, does not shock me and most of the parents have no idea of the harm they are causing them as babies.
I have no idea how to improve the situation but education of the locals is paramount. I am often amazed at their lack of understanding of basic hygiene. As a simple 'Susie example' that I deal with every day in my house, I am constantly telling Lydia that she needs to use 'different rags' for cleaning the house. She is often found cleaning the bathrooms with a rag and then moves on to my office or the lounge with the same cloth in hand. She sees it all as 'cleaning' with no understanding of moving germs - no wonder I have been sick so many times in 7 months !! But knowledge is power, and if we, as expats, can inform the few people we are involved with on how to maintain better hygiene standards, then maybe the future Indian children have a chance.
A very interesting read : http://www.unicef.org/india/wes.html
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