Coping with hygiene in South Africa, a water scarce country

Abstract

The burden of infectious diseases may be reduced by adopting effective infection control measures. Some of these are dependent on the provision of adequate and safe water supplies for maintenance of basic standards of personal, domestic and healthcare hygiene. Consequences of scarce, and sometimes unsafe, waters supplies in South Africa are highlighted with reference to healthcare-associated infections, community acquired infectious intestinal diseases and domestic practices as infection sources. Availability of water in more than 67% of South African municipal hospitals and primary health care facilities (delivered by water tanker in 12.5% of satellite clinics, 5% from river or dam sources, 12.4% relying on rainwater) does not necessarily guarantee that it's quality is safe for utilisation. In the Northern Province and Mpumalanga, water needs to be purified prior to usage in 14.4 and 33% of satellite clinics respectively. Simple, low maintenance and low-cost interventions to maximise use and safety of limited water resources may be implemented: micro-organism (S. dysenteriae) inactivation by direct UV-exposure in sunlight abundant environments, water purification by filtration mechanisms and making use of iron pots in the community for pasteurisation, decontamination and boiling procedures. Education is paramount in promoting healthy domestic food handling practices, changing cultural perceptions of hygiene, hand-washing technique and mechanisms of domestic environmental decontamination. Water provision cannot be separated from other inter-related factors such as sanitation. Although the present government has taken initiatives to reduce the number of people not having access to water by 50% in 2002, provision of sanitation has been slower (>38% inadequate sanitation in 2002). Adoption of integrated environmental management approaches in conjunction with community participation (WASH Campaign--2002), by the government, aims to address the sanitation problems.

Sanitary Conditions of Food Vending Sites and Food Handling Practices of Street Food Vendors in Benin City, Nigeria: Implication for Food Hygiene and Safety

“…Previous studies conducted in Ilorin, Abeokuta, in Nigeria and Accra in Ghana, respectively, showed similar trend [2, 16, 17]. This was, however, not the case in studies conducted in South Africa and Kenya, respectively, where street food vendors were mostly males [18, 19]. Gender role in socioeconomic development is often influenced by cultural orientation and varies from one geographical location to another.…”

Bacteriological quality of drinking water in Nyala, South Darfur, Sudan

“…The provision of drinking water of adequate quality and quantity remains a major public health need in many African countries where diarrhoeal diseases continue to cause extensive morbidity and mortality. The burden of infectious disease may be reduced by adopting effective control measures; some of these are dependent on the provision of adequate and safe water supplies for basic standards of personal domestic and health care hygiene (Duse et al 2003).…”

Bacterial Contamination of Drinking Water in the Internally Displaced People Camps in South Darfur, Sudan

“…The provision of drinking water of adequate quality and quantity remains a major public health need in many African countries, where diarrhoeal diseases continue to cause extensive morbidity and mortality [1]. In recent years, there has been a large movement of internally displaced people into the peripheral areas of Nyala city because of the civil war in Darfur region.…”