Trace Element Concentrations in Drinking Water and Urine among Saharawi Women and Young Children

Abstract

Poor water quality has been reported along with a variety of negative health outcomes in the Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria. We assessed the concentration of elements in drinking water and urine in refugee women and children. Twenty-four samples of distributed public drinking water were collected, along with urine samples from 77 women and 296 children. Using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, we analyzed water and urine for 31 and 10 elements, respectively. In addition, the water samples were analyzed for five anions by ion-exchange chromatography. Data were described according to two areas: zone 1 with purified water and water with naturally better quality, and zone 2 with only partially purified water. Most elements in drinking water had significantly higher concentration in zone 2 compared with zone 1. Sodium, chloride, nitrite, and nitrate were the parameters that exceeded the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality. Among both women and children, urinary concentration of vanadium, arsenic, selenium, lead, iodine, and uranium exceeded reference values, and most of the elements were significantly higher in zone 2 compared to zone 1. Even though water purification in the Saharawi refugee camps has increased during the last years, some elements are still exceeding the WHO guidelines for drinking water quality. Moreover, urinary exposure of some elements exceeded reference values from the literature. Further effort should be made to improve the water quality among the Saharawi refugees.

A Scoping Review of the Health of African Immigrant and Refugee Children

“…A total of 40 articles report on nutrition following arrival to the host country [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 ]. Concerning breastfeeding practices among mothers of AMC, scholars largely centre their attention on high-income settings such as Norway and Australia, or conversely on refugee camps in Africa.…”

“…Likewise, lipid-based nutrient supplement programs have been implemented in Algeria [ 96 ], nutrient-dense fortified spread programs in the United States [ 97 ], and maize meal fortification in Zambia [ 98 ]. However, despite an increase of interventions, acute malnutrition remained prevalent in Somalia [ 99 ], no significant change in haemoglobin with micronutrient powder was observed in Kenya [ 100 ], and malnutrition rates for migrants to Zaire persisted [ 101 ].…”

Assessment of the Nutritional Status, Diet and Intestinal Parasites in Hosted Saharawi Children

“…Since the emission of cysts along with the feces seems to be intermittent, microscopic diagnosis as a gold standard technique is not effective; therefore, the combination with molecular methods (such as PCR) that evaluate the intestinal presence of a certain parasite improve the diagnostic sensitivity [38]. Furthermore, the origin of the high prevalence of both protists can be due to poor health of drinking water [39] and the hygienic-sanitary habits (it is usually eaten from the same container with the hands), which facilitates oral-fecal transmission [40]. In addition, these parasitic infections, which are often asymptomatic [32], may be a trigger for secondary food malabsorption/intolerance (in particular, to carbohydrates), dyspepsia or irritable bowel syndrome [38,[41][42][43][44].…”