Editorial
There is more to it than mere diarrhoea
It spells a set of alarming messages
Whereas normally the daily onrush of diarrhoea patients to ICDDR,B during this time of the year would have been 250 to 300, the number has soared to 450 to 500 during each of the last ten days. Why? The reasons are not only bigger in number but also more complex in nature. One has known diarrhoea to be a water borne disease, plain and simple -- resulting from intake of germ-infested water. Also, usually it is said to be contracted from eating rotten food.
Safe drinking water is in much acuter short supply than ever before. Water table has fallen to new depths, surface water is thoroughly polluted and storm sewer leaks and water supply network have got mixed up in places contaminating piped water. Due to frequent power outages lifting of water has had to be scaled down by the pumping stations thus further accentuating water scarcity. So the common people have to rely on whatever water they can lay their hands on.
There is another fall-out of power shortage which is that the refrigerators preserving food in frozen form having been rendered dysfunctional every now and then through frequent electricity load-shedding, virtually none of the food is left safe for eating. Particularly those who have to eat out of home are extremely vulnerable not just to diarrhoea but typhoid as well. Sweltering heat with a high humidity content, polluted water bodies and rubbish that has not been disposed of all go to make the atmosphere and living conditions extremely unhygienic.
The do's and don'ts are clearly definable. In the first place, the mayor, ward commissioners and hospital authorities must launch their own cleanliness drives. Basically, an awareness building campaign will have to be launched at the community level with the media disseminating information about what and what not to do in order to prevent spread of diarrhoea and to cure it when attacked. Mobile water distribution arrangements, distribution of ORS sachets and driving the message home about avoiding unsafe food will have to be resorted to in an all-out effort to meet the contingency.
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