About the Author:
Mr. Muhammad Sajjad is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) at Aga Khan University. He has done his Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) at Dow University of Health Sciences and has vast clinical expertise in nursing practice.
Clean Water and Sanitation in Pakistan
Clean water and sanitation are leading issues in Pakistan. They affect on all ages of individuals, but children are affected the most. In Pakistan, water primarily comes from rivers glacial melt and underground water. Data gathered by research officers of the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) estimates that up to 91% of drinking water is unsafe to drink (Kumar et al., 2022). Untreated water carries harmful bacteria, and viruses which compromise the well-being of children and catch waterborne diseases like Typhoid, H-pylori, hepatitis A, diarrhea and cholera. Such diseases produce long term effects on babies’ health such as delay growth, malnutrition and even death. Hence, solving water issue is not only guarantee public wellbeing but also an important step in protecting the future of Pakistan's children. Young children are vulnerable due to
lack of awareness regarding sanitation and clean water access. They use all
kinds of tap water which are mostly unfiltered and make them infected. Multiple
studies conclude that more than 50% of diseases in Pakistan are due to
consumption of unsafe water (Nawaz et al., 2021). This situation can be tackled
through proper following sanitation techniques and installation of potable
water system would decrease the bar of waterborne diseases.
Lack of access to sanitation and
safe water consumption leads to delayed growth and malnutrition among toddlers.
Initial years of children are the developmental years in which children grow
faster than any other age of life. They experience slow rate of growth If child
catches infections in these years through untreated water. Furthermore, they
perform poorer in school and less active in other co-curricular activities as
per (WHO, 2019) findings. Some precautionary measures must be taken to minimize
the long-term effects of these diseases on children’s health which improve the
growth and school performance. Moreover, Unfiltered water can be fatal for
children. According to UNICEF around 53000 children died due to poor sanitation
and unsafe water in Pakistan. It is a huge number which must have been
controlled through education and allow access to this necessity.
There are some challenges which are contributing negatively to child health. These challenges need to be addressed to prevent further deterioration. Currently 25 million people still practice open defecation in rural and urban areas of Pakistan which must be restricted to control the contamination. Secondly, purify the water quality, the government should install filter plants where people use water for daily consumption and usage. Government should also hire technicians for the maintenance on recommended time (Durak & Mutlu, 2024). Lastly, hygiene, specially hand hygiene, sessions must be conducted in schools, and community centers, to teach the recommended ways of hand hygiene to prevent the spread of infections (Nawaz et al., 2021).
References
Durak, Z., & Mutlu, O. (2024).
Home health care nurse routing and scheduling problem considering ergonomic
risk factors. Heliyon, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23896
Kumar, P., Arshad, F., Shaheen, S. K.,
Nadeem, A., Islam, Z., & Essar, M. Y. (2022). Water sanitation in Karachi
and its impact on health. Annals of
Medicine and Surgery, 77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2022.103688
Nawaz,
W., Nousheen, F., Batool, Z., Mahmood, S., & Malik, N. (2021). Effects of
drinking water supply and enhanced sanitation on infants and children’s health
in peripheral rural areas of Faisalabad. Journal
of Agricultural Research (JAR). 59(1), 103-108.
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