Social factors remain a critical determinant of human health. This infers that ecological aspect of the human disease is influenced by the social behaviors and access to resources among the people residing in a given area. In this discussion, we concentrate on two countries, which are the United States and Malawi, which is a developing nation with some areas such as Kauma on the outskirts of Lilongwe city. The two nations remain critical when discussing issues related to access to water and sanitation based on the challenges in one and non-realization that some people lack access to clean water and sanitation in third-world countries.
Itō & Rose (2010) asserts that economic development helps in analyzing human diseases based on statistics on access to clean water and sanitation. According to the WHO, approximately 946 million people globally use an outside toilet. Malawi remains valuable for the discussion with approximately 27, 250 people in Kauma, who have no access to clean water (Habitat for Humanity Great Britain, 2016). The residents used boreholes prior to the establishment of the 5 water kiosks by Habitat Humanity. The situation was risky as most of the residents died of cholera, and accidental deaths based on the improperly constructed toilets. The main issue was the risk of water pollution from the toilets, which exposed them to more risks, including typhoid, dysentery, diarrhea, and hepatitis A.
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The World Bank, United Nations, and the IMF continue to undertake huge efforts to reduce the numbers based on the number of families with an easy access to clean drinking water. The programs were started in the 1990s through the Unicef and the WHO Monitoring Programs. Despite the registered improvements, organizations, such as Habitat Humanity, remain critical for the people of Kauma, in Malawi (Habitat for Humanity Great Britain, 2016). The residents appreciate the efforts of the organization because out of the 33,000 people residing in Kauma at least 6,250 people have access to ‘clean water.’ Despite the immense support, the program started by Habitat Humanity needs a lot of support as it is projected that the population will have doubled come 2030. Sustainability can be achieved by empowering the locals.
The video Habitat for Humanity Great Britain (2016) introduces the audience to low-income wage earners, who are surrounded by poverty based on the high rates of employment in the area. Prior to 2012, the residents reported increased cases of cholera and poor sanitation because of the poorly built toilets and lack of clean water to facilitate sanitation. The introduction of the five clean water kiosks in the area has increased awareness of hygiene in the community. The Habitat Humanity program managed to train approximately 135 families since the launch of the program in 2012. Prior to the project people scrambled for borehole water, which was not even clean.
However, Frérot (2011) views that developed communities such as the United States have approximately 82% of city dwellers, who can access an improved sanitation facility. The facilities in the area are hygienic as it is able to separate human waste from human access. Contrarily, 51% of the people globally have access to such facilities. Most Latin Americans, Asians, sub-Saharan Africans, and Caribbean ranks among the 2.4 billion people that still experience the challenge of poor sanitation (Greiner, 2016). The issue thrives from the rapid growth in population without sufficient development in sanitation access. Consequently, inadequate access to water might have increased to 17% of the statistics attained in 1990 (United, 2009).
In conclusion, reducing the population of a nation remains a critical aspect of economic development based on access to clean water and sanitation among other facilities. The difference between Malawi and United States is that the latter fears for the slow population growth. This means that the increased population might reduce tax base and labor force to sustain most government programs. Developing nations continue to cut trees, which act as water catchment, deteriorating the efforts of attains the millennial development goal.
References
Frérot, A. (2011). Water: Towards a Culture of Responsibility . Durham, N.H.: New Hampshire.
Greiner, P. T. (2016). Social Drivers of Water Utility Privatization in the United States: An Examination of the Presence of Variegated Neoliberal Strategies in the Water Utility Sector. Rural Sociology , 81 (3), 387-406.
Habitat for Humanity Great Britain. (2016). Eradicating Diseases in Africa, One Toilet at a Time (Malawi) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyKWYwo00Ns
Itō, T., & Rose, A. (2010). The Economic Consequences of Demographic Change in East Asia . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
United, N. (2009). How Generations and Gender Shape Demographic Change : Towards Policies Based on Better Knowledge: Conference Proceedings . New York: United Nations Publications.
