Striking Maoists contract dysentary, diarrhoea

May 4, 2010
KATHMANDU: Change in the Kathmandu weather, stale food and vegetables, contaminated drinking water, dirty dishes and lack of sanitation facilities in the shelter camps are beginning to take a toll on the UCPN-Maoist cadres involved in the general strike.

Hospital sources said up to 400 demonstrators had to be rushed to different hospitals in the capital city for treatment as they suffered from water-borne diseases like dysentary and diarrhoea. The UCPN-Maoist put the estimate at 300.


The sick include women, children and the elderly citizens, brought to Kathmandu from several parts of the country, according to hospital sources. Health workers, who had cautioned the Maoist party to ensure supply of hygienic food and safe drinking water to the demonstrators mobilised into Kathmandu, have also warned of an impending outbreak of water-borne diseases.


The UCPN-Maoist has reportedly assembled an estimated five lakh cadres for the protests and demonstrations aimed at marshalling the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government that completes its first year in office this week.


The demonstrators are having to live in congested rooms in the shelters, including schools and public places.


Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Diseases Hospital, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital and Bir Hospital have reported increased number of diarrhoea cases in the past two days.


Dr Saroj Prasad Rajendra, Director, Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Diseases Hospital, said they had recorded around 18 cases of water-borne diseases among the cadres living in Kirtipur. Most of the patients are critical and have been kept under observation, said Dr Rajendra.


“Contaminated drinking water, unhygienic food and an increasing temperature are the main reasons behind the outbreak,” said Dr Rajendra, urging UCPN-M to show seriousness towards the health of its cadres.


She added that repeatedly consuming beaten rice with stale vegetables at polluted places is also behind the transmission of disease. She urged the cadres to drink safe water and to maintain minimum personal hygiene.


Dr Basu Dev Pandey, consultant physician of the hospital, said most of the patients admitted there were in the age-group 15-45 years and lived in squalid conditions in the camps. He added that they were being provided with free treatment and medicines. Dr DP Singh, Chief, Emergency Ward, Bir Hospital, said most of the cadres were admitted in the emergency ward suffering from gastritis and food poisoning.


TUTH too has admitted a number of critical cases of water-borne diseases. Chandra Kumar Rai, Chief, Administration Department, TUTH, said the hospital admitted patients in critical stage. Non-serious patients are given treatment by the primary health service providers, he added.
Mangal Bishwokarma, president of the All Nepal Progressive Public Health Workers’ Association, said they had recorded around 300 patients suffering from diseases like diarrhoea, common cold, fever and throat pain.


“We are giving preventive as well as curative treatment to the ill cadres” added Bishwokarma. He said the party was taking care of its cadres and has directed them to drink water that contained chlorine.

(Source: The himalayan times)


Timor-Leste: water supplies running on empty

May 4, 2010
Despite significant donor investment in the water sector in Timor-Leste, sustainability remains the biggest challenge. Much of the country’s rural water systems fell into disrepair years ago. The government has made water a national priority for 2010.
According to Timor-Leste’s National Statistics Directorate, almost 40 percent of the country’s 1.1 million inhabitants lack access to an improved water source.
The problem is most evident in rural areas where approximately 75 percent of the population lives – 44.4 percent do not have access against about 15 percent in urban areas.
In the eastern districts of Baucau, Lautem and Viqueque, and Oecussi District, an enclave inside Indonesia, that figure tops more than 50 percent.


One community’s story

Of Lisapat’s 800 households, only 18 have access to piped water, with the rest relying on a nearby spring. Before 2002, everyone had access.
“It’s a big problem and one that we need to fix,” said Julio do Rosario Lemos, 34, who was recently elected the village’s head.

Between 70 and 80 percent of the country’s water system was destroyed in the violence and displacement that occurred after Timor-Leste’s indepence in 199.

“In many villages there are pipes with no water. In others there never have been,” Bishnu Pokhrel, a water and hygiene specialist with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN, citing poor management, lack of awareness, low institutional capacity and the impact of the 1999 political crisis.

Sustainability
“Sustainable water systems is the key goal,” Keryn Clark, programme team leader for the Timor-Leste Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (RWSSP), an AusAID-funded project working with the Timorese government to improve water supplies, told IRIN.
On some projects in the past, the focus had been more on laying pipes that on community management, she said. It was critical that the community, which ultimately will be managing the system, is fully on board from the very beginning.
Maintenance of the infrastructure is also critical and outside Dili, the capital, few spare parts are available.


While many of the country’s community water management groups are well organized, others are less so and may not have the knowledge or means to undertake necessary repairs.
“You need to determine what the community can realistically manage and what they can’t, and then how you can support them,” Clark said, emphasizing that community training is key.

Institutional capacityUntil recently, each district had just one non-technical rural water supply and there was only one fully trained water engineer in the whole country.
Now with support from AusAID, another district level technical person has been added, as well as one or two community facilitators at the sub-district level, focusing on community management and sanitation.
“These are all key points in making the system more sustainable,” Clark said. “If we can actually make the systems that have been built, or are in the process of being built, work properly and [be] more sustainable, more people will have access to water.”
(Source: IRIN, 08 Feb 2010)


With access to the toilet came access to dignity


May 3, 2010

There have been encouraging increases in the number of poorer people who are able to access toilets in Deoghar and Pakur districts of Jharkhand, India, thanks to the Total Sanitation Campaign. While this is a reason for optimism, questions do arise: “Who benefits? Is this programme really catering to ALL?”
This Government of India programme offers incentives for families below the poverty line to construct toilets with technical designs approved by the District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) responsible for sanitation.
However, the evidence is that people with special needs, or the differently abled are being left out, since even if their families have toilets, these are not user friendly or appropriate. This means that, despite the programme designed to be ‘total’, there is not really universal access and not all people can live with dignity.
To enhance the inclusiveness of access and to sensitise the service providers and the community on the need for inclusive approaches in planning, design and implementation, several initiatives were undertaken by the Regional Office East for the state of Jharkhand along with Gram Jyoti, a partner of WaterAid. All this was possible because of one person, Jitendra Turi of Sisanathur village, Jharkhand who proved to be really special.
Jitendra suffers from multiple disabilities, with locomotor, visual and mental impairments. He comes from a Scheduled Caste (‘lower caste’ in India) family and lives with his parents. Even at the age of 25, he is still dependent on his mother for most activities. He is not a child and cannot go to school and he cannot participate in village activities.
The family did not have a toilet at home, unaware of its importance in reducing dependency and increasing dignity for their son so that he could lead as normal a life as possible. For defecation, his mother usually took him to the outskirts of the village. Sometimes, when was unable to take him out, she would ask him to defecate in a corner of the village lane, which earned him the ridicule of children and villagers. “I felt such shame in telling my mother to help me for defecation. I am grown up but how can I go out? I cannot see, nor am I able to walk,” recalls Jitendra.
Jitendra’s family has a small land holding. Burdened with poverty and looking after the needs of their son, his parents did not participate in village meetings. They were unaware of government incentives and entitlements, or of toilet options which could help their son.
Gram Jyoti was working on sanitation in this village when Jitendra was spotted by the programme team. He brought up Jitendra’s case at a village water and sanitation committee that had formed to work on sanitation and hygiene related issues. His family was approached, and the benefits of having a toilet at home explained. The family contributed labour and the mason charges for constructing a toilet.
Jitendra’s toilet is made of mud and bricks, with a raised squatting platform fitted with a rural pan, which can be used as a commode. The walls are fitted with a supporting rail for easy movement. To help him with his visual disability, a bamboo pole leads from the main door to the toilet.
After a few rounds of demonstration and practice with Gram Jyoti village motivators, Jitendra now locates and uses the toilet on his own. He is more self reliant and motivates others saying, “If I can use toilet why can’t you?”
Locating toilet with help of bamboo.
Pix: Jitendra in his toilet
Extending the campaign for disability rights
Gram Jyoti has taken up the cause of disabled people on other fronts as well. Abha the project coordinator says that the organisation is advocating for the restoration of pension for people with special needs, provisioned under the Swami Vivekananda Scheme, but now discontinued. The organisation is also helping his family with activities/ benefits under the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Jitendra’s family has been provided with an irrigation well under this scheme.
Key lessons from the community process:
- People with disabilities like Jitendra should not be limited to being the recipients of charity. They need to be brought into village forums, where they can also have a say in village processes.
- The environment surrounding people with disabilities is a problem, not the people who have these special needs. In case of Jitendra, his disability was a result of social shortcomings in terms of awareness, attitude, approaches and accessibility to services.
- Sometimes what is required is not a new hardware technology per se, but new and sensitive ways to implement technology, with appropriate modifications. In this case, the adaptations were such that the toilet can be used by all family members.
Linking Community processes to District forums at Deoghar and Pakur
The work supporting Jitendra to live his life independently and with dignity was used to influence and reach out to more people with disabilities.
A district consultation was organised in Deoghar and Pakur on “Influencing WASH Service delivery for people with disabilities” in collaboration with DWSMs, and this was attended by representatives of NGOs working on water, sanitation and hygiene, and governmental departments for Women and Child Development, Education and Drinking Water and Sanitation.
This led to the following actions at the government level:
- Restructuring village water and sanitation committees (VWSC) to ensure representation of people with disabilities.
- A promise to revise district project implementation plans so that they include special needs.
- Raised awareness of district officials on WASH provisions for people with special needs.
- Incorporation of technical modifications to existing water and sanitation facilities to make them more user-friendly
-Design and cost estimates to make government institutions in Pakur and in Deoghar districts accessible for people with disabilities.
Meeta Jaruhar (Water Aid India)