EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION IN A COMMUNITY
Environmental sanitation refers to activities that are aimed to improve the environmental conditions and maintain the standards of sanitation that affect the well-being of human. The environmental conditions being referred to are: air, water, animal, human and industrial wastes, food, and housing. (Business Dictionary, 2011). The environmental factors enumerated above are important because they form a link in the transmission of diseases. (Wikipedia, 2011). The concern on diseases is the focal point on any environmental sanitation management project because not only are diseases the cause of morbidity they also increase the incidence of infant, mother and adult mortality. There are four major areas in environmental sanitation. These are planning, water supply, sanitation and hygiene education (Robens Institute, 2011).
Planning is an important area in environmental sanitation. A holistic and integrated planning approach brings the community in the forefront of the planning and consultation process in order to promote ‘ownership’ of the environmental sanitation project. A good environmental plan has concrete goals and objectives and means and method in achieving the goals. (Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology, 1999.). Water is directly linked to health and survival of a human being. The quality of water used in the community for drinking and other household needs is important. The provision of sanitation facilities in both the public establishment and private homes is a concern among environmental sanitation experts. Health education is an important area in the overall environmental sanitation process. The goal of the education is to promote knowledge on the importance of maintaining good hygiene and in ensuring a clean air, water, food and housing and ensuring a safe and sanitary area for animal, human and industrial wastes. (Robens Institute, 2011). Environmental sanitation is critical in the reduction of people without access to safe drinking water and other sanitation facilities by 2015. This is also one of the concerns of the United Nations Millenium Development Goals. (Kennedy, 2010). Thus the global concern on environmental sanitation is critical because it has implications on social and economic development. Over-all it is the poorest of the poor who will benefit from environmental sanitation. Thus, environmental sanitation efforts must be mainstreamed in any developmental agenda (Wikipedia, 2011).
Poor environmental sanitation occurs when hygienic practices fall below the standards of health and sanitation. A poorly sanitized environment has the following characteristics: contaminated water supply especially drinking water supply, polluted air, improper disposal of human, animal and industrial wastes which are usually exposed to the environment, depressed and unclean housing and contaminated food. All these result to diseases and poor health, reduced productivity and increased infant and adult morbidity and mortality. One of the diseases caused by contamination due to faecal matter are – diarrhea, cholera, typhoid fever and amoebiasis, trichuriasis, ascariasis , and hookworm among others (Warmer, 1997).Contaminated food as we all know results to diarrhea, amoebiasis and food-poisoning among others. The effects of air pollution on human health include eye irritation, allergies, coughing, asthma and other lung diseases (Stratford, 2011). Crowded and poorly sanitized housing facilities on the other hand have a socio-psychological impact on the well-being of an individual. Crowding impacts on the cognitive and psychomotor performance of children and also increases their tendency towards aggression (Sammons, nd). The other concern on poor environmental sanitation is that it affects the poorest members of society especially that they lack the physical and financial resources and education to improve their sanitation.
Environmental sanitation management refers to the overall-all process of ensuring a safe and sanitized environmental condition which starts from planning, organizing resources, controlling the processes, and leading the whole environmental sanitation management process. Under environmental sanitation management are the sub fields of water and wastewater treatment, treatment of industrial wastes, noise and pollution control and solid waste management (Wikepedia, 2011). Environmental sanitation management is thus a broader area of concern that requires a holistic and integrated approach involving the community who are the direct benefactors of environmental sanitation projects, the local government, non government agencies and experts in the various fields related to environmental sanitation. In conclusion, environmental sanitation management as it concerns the reduction of diseases is just as important an agenda as poverty alleviation. As the cliché goes, “health is wealth”, the health of the population has a tremendous impact on the overall productivity or wealth of a nation.
REFERENCES
Business Dictionary, 2011. Environmental Sanitation. [online] Available at: <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/environmental-sanitation.html> [Accessed 3 May 2011]
Kennedy, G., 2010. Environmental Sanitation Problems. [online] Available at: <http://www.ehow.com/facts_6465742_environmental-sanitation-problems.html> [Accessed 3 May 2011].
Robens Institute, 2011. Fact Sheets on Environmental Sanitation. World Health Organization. [online] Available at: <http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/emergencies/envsanfactsheets/en/index.html> [Accessed 3 May 2011].
Sammons, A., n.d. Effects of Crowding. [online] Available at: <http://www.psychlotron.org.uk/resources/environmental/A2_OCR_env_crowdeffects.pdf> [Accessed 3 May 2011]
Stratford, SJ, 2011. Effects of Air Pollution in Humans. [online] Available at: < http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Effects_of_Air_Pollution_in_Humans> [Accessed 3 May 2011]
Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology,1999. Household-Centred Environmental Sanitation. Report of the Hilterfingen workshop on Environmental Sanitation in the 21st Century. [online] Available at: <http://www.eawag.ch/forschung/sandec/publikationen/sesp/dl/report_ws_hilterfingen.pdf> [Accessed 3 May 2011].
Warmer, DB., 1997. Drinking Water Supply And Environmental Sanitation For Health. [online] Available at: <http://www.oieau.fr/ciedd/contributions/at1/contribution/warner.htm> Accessed 3 May 2011].
Wikipedia, 2011. Sanitation. [online] Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitation> [Accessed 3 May 2011)
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