Blog 13: South African Township Desperate for Safe Drinking Water

According to a recent article “South African Township Desperate For Safe Drinking Water” thousands of residents in Diepsloot, a large township north of South Africa have been waiting for hours to get access to safe water after a week after their supply was contaminated by sewage. The contamination occurred due to a contractor breaking the water pipe that supplies Diepsloot.

            Generally speaking the damage to the water pipe was repaired, but E.coli from sewage contaminated the water supply. Water authorities of Johannesburg warned residents not to drink from their water taps due to the contamination. Furthermore, many residents say that there are not enough temporary water tanks to serve their large population of 150,000 people. As stated; the township has 65 stationary tanks and 12 mobile tanks for residents to use, and that each tank has a capacity of 5,000 liters.

            For the most part, many people are going without water. Without water the residents of Johannesburg are struggling to meet basic needs. Water is needed for multiple things such as drinking, cooking, bathing, etc. Most families have to buy water for their families just to make it, however many of the poorer families are unemployed and cannot afford to buy water. Especially when they have been using communal taps that provided free water across the township.

            Clearly, this is a social problem that needs to be fixed; they are currently working to restore the water for the residents. Although it takes a few days to restore the system, these people have been without water for a week and that is slightly too long. Also Johannesburg water infrastructure is in need of replacement and the National Treasury can only cover less than half of the cost needed to upgrade South Africa’s water services. Many people are suffering from lack of water or no water supply and are at risk to catching diseases from contaminated water. In any event, more needs to be done to prevent things like this from happening or more emergency water is needed to make sure that everyone in the township can have safe clean water.

            

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107510 

Blog #12 Hiv Compounds Poverty In Nepal

According to a recent article, “HIV Compounds Poverty In Nepal”, Nepal’s Western region is suffering as the HIV infection is being brought back into the country by traveling seasonal workers. Generally speaking, the regions women are taking the brunt of this infectious disease. As stated in the article, many men were traveling to India to seek seasonal jobs. As a result, the men brought the HIV infection back with them and spread it to many women. The women who became infected had to face extreme measures and sell of their land and even livestock to get HIV treatment for their husbands and even themselves.

Furthermore, India has 2.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS. Also it has big cities that act as hubs for sex workers who are recruited from Nepal’s poverty-ridden regions. In addition, it is the destination that millions of semi-skilled and unskilled workers travel to.  Meanwhile, according to Nepal’s 2011 Census, out of a total population of 26.7 million people almost two million people are working abroad causing hardships to households by bringing the HIV infection. In addition, many women who become infected with the disease are accused of being sex workers and in return are denied resources even in their own home.

Clearly, this is a social problem. Many families face hardships and suffer tremendously because they catch the disease unintentionally. In addition, these men travel abroad in seek of work to support their families but instead bring back more problems. It is unfair to these families and individuals who are only trying to better themselves or even just to survive to have to face catching the HIV infection because they searched for a job. Aids causes harm and leads to death, there is no cure for the infection. All in all, Nepal and other countries such as India, need to work on improving their Aids prevention program. Finally, Nepal should find some way to help workers travel less, by offering more jobs. Also, they should implement testing centers for those who are entering and exiting the country for work. As stated before, there is no known cure for HIV infection but there are ways to help prevent people from catching and spreading the disease to others. 

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107394 

Blog 11: Guatemala — Regional Leader In Teen Pregnancies

            According to a recent article, “Guatemala- Regional Leader In Teen Pregnancies”, teenage pregnancies have drastically increased, including an increase in the drop-out rate in schools, family breakdown and many other social ills. Traditionally, there are many factors playing a role in early motherhood, such as lack of sex education, ban of contraceptive use in Catholic Churches, and impunity for statutory rape.

            Furthermore, results showed that last year there were 21 babies born to underage mothers around 10 years of age. However as a whole there were over three thousand births resulting from teenage pregnancies. In addition, many of these pregnancies were the product of statutory rape. Also, most cases of rape were never reported or never appeared in court for prosecutions. Even more so, the Guatemalans found it to be problematic to punish offenders in these types of cases.

            Second of all, the article stated that one out of five Guatemalan mothers are aged between 10 and 19, also they have the highest adolescent fertility rate in Latin America. To decrease and help prevent teenage and unwanted pregnancies, the Family Welfare Association of Guatemala has implemented and new programs in school for young people of both sexes, to educated the children of motherhood and fatherhood. For instance, the program uses aids such as the pregnancy simulator and an electronic baby for the children to learn what parenthood is actually like.

            Finally, teenage pregnancies are not acceptable in most countries, however there is not much justice being done to prevent underage mothers from becoming pregnant or any punishment to the rapist. This is clearly a social problem because young teenage girls are being physically harmed and taken advantage of by men and the men are getting away with doing so. Also they are forcing such young teens to care for babies when they are still young themselves. In other words, how could you expect a ten year old girl to raise a new born baby? Lastly, there should be more methods implemented to help prevent such bad things from happening. 

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107348 

Blog #9 :Winter Of Crisis Killing The Elderly In Portugal

To begin with, a recent article, “Winter Of Crisis Killing The Elderly In Portugal” describes the seasonal mortality rate in Portugal, and how most of the deaths were of low-income elderly people. As reported in the article, 11,600 people died in February, which was greater than then amount in previous years, and that most of those victims were indeed over the age of 75. Health officials believed that the outstanding number of deaths this year resulted from the economic crisis and the cuts in public spending. In addition, one-third of the country’s public hospitals were reported as insolvent, which caused the government to cut healthcare spending by an almost five percent this year.

            Meanwhile, the explanations for such high mortality rates varied, but most of them blamed unusually cold weather and seasonal diseases as the leading cause of death. However, many doctors felt that the reason the mortality rate increased was because of the growing inability of people to afford proper health care. For instance, as stated in the article, the elderly people were isolated from people of working age, which in return left them to barely meet basic survival needs and access to health services.

            Generally speaking, seasonal weather can cause many virus and infections, which makes elderly people more vulnerable to catching viruses, such as the Flu. Also, since many of the elderly population in Portugal are suffering from reduced incomes they were not able to heat their homes for winter. As a result, it led to more people getting sick and even death.

In conclusion, the DGS (General Directorate of Health) still claimed that it was just the weather causing all the health problems with the elderly people. Yet, since the healthcare spending cut, many elderly people became extremely poor and could not even meet basic survival needs. They suffered from illnesses and diseases and could not even get treatment at a hospital or even heat their home during the winter. Clearly, this is a social problem. The decision of cutting back on the healthcare spending created multiple hardships on elderly people in Portugal resulting in harm and even death. Furthermore, if they would have not cut back in the healthcare and helped the low income families, and elderly people, they might have had a chance for survival. 

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107125 

Blog # 8 Antibiotics Toughen Bacteria On German Farms

According to a recent article, “Antibiotics Toughen Bacteria On German Farms”, five prematurely born children in the city of Bremen died as a result from highly resistant infections that they acquired from the hospital in northern Germany. For the most part, there have always been problems within poultry farms. Hence, stated in the article it says that in most industrial farms, thousands of animals were kept in unhygienic small spaces, which increased the risk of spreading infectious diseases. Furthermore, the bacterium was thought to have been brought into clinics by patients who had come in contact with contaminated poultry. In addition, a death of three other children who were also born premature caused local health officials to perform an intensive investigation into hygiene conditions at the clinic. As a result, the clinic was ordered to renovate there building and there staff was given a refresher course in hygiene.

          Generally speaking, the clinic reopened and closed multiple times due to the infection causing even more deaths. Even more so, the bacteria found in the disease in poultry are also found in humans. A federal health official, Robert Koch reported that over 90 percent of chickens sold in Germany contain extended-spectrum beta-lactamase or ESBL. Additionally, ESBL are bacteria which are resistant to most antibiotics. As stated in the article, 53 people died and more than 4,000 people became sick due to infections carried by contaminated meats and vegetables.

 In conclusion, society will always remain at risk for such infection due to unhygienic practices. Also, there is  no way to completely prevent the spread of the diseases. However if society as a whole used better hygiene practices dealing with crops and farms, it could in return reduce the risk for spreading infection and lower the death rate for many individuals, also the illness that most people acquire. Finally, better hygiene practices will make the food we eat and vegetables that we grow safer to eat. 

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107060