Being that I have never traveled outside of the US, I decided to look up other countries in need of fresh drinking water. As I expected, Africa was the country most in need of this precious resource. For example, in East Africa, the number 1 disease that takes the most lives is Malaria, followed by Measles. As depressing as it is, this led me to want to look up some of the most deadly water-borne diseases out there.
First, Malaria is a parasitic disease that involves high fevers, shaking chills, flu-like symptoms, and anemia. As stated earlier, this is one of the number-one killers in Africa.
Pinworms are small, thin, white roundworms (about the length of a staple) that sometimes live in the colon and rectum of humans. Pinworms are more hygiene related, meaning that someone can contract them by using unclean water to bathe.
Lastly, Cholera outbreaks can occur in any part of the world where water supplies, sanitation, food safety and hygiene practices are inadequate. Overcrowded communities with poor sanitation and unsafe drinking-water supplies are most frequently affected. Cholera presents with intense vomiting and diarrhea.
If learning about these terrible water-borne diseases doesn’t cause you to want to help communities prone to them, I’m not sure what will! Thanks to Travel2Change and other related organizations, areas in the world with unsafe drinking and bathing water have a fighting chance to contest these scary water-borne diseases!!