In an underdeveloped country don't drink the water. In a developed country don't breathe the air.
Diarrhea, 90 percent of which is caused by food and water contaminated by excrement, kills a child every fifteen seconds. That's more than AIDS, malaria, or measles, combined. Human feces are an impressive weapon of mass destruction.
Half of the hospital beds in sub-Saharan Africa are filled with people suffering from what are generally known as water-related diseases.
The cholera had broken out at the post, and five or six men were dying daily.
When I was 18, I went to India and was stupid enough to drink the tap water. I ended up with dysentery. It's not an experience I wish to go through again.
I'd worked on leprosy and malaria in India [at the World Bank] and asked myself the question: Why do we let 2 million children die every year around the world for not having clean water? Because they're faceless and nameless. So, for me, Facebook looked like it was going to solve the problem of the invisible victim.
More people living in less space can put greater strain on already limited sanitation resources, and this can create a fertile breeding ground for waterborne infectious disease and the insects spreading them.
Cholera is even more severe among populations who are immunologically naive.
If anything, all homes should have piped water supply and sanitation, which could improve public-health indicators and reduce infant mortality.
In 2009, I traveled to South Sudan with my organization PSI. While there, I visited a local school and met with a group of children who had formed a water club. The group learned about how to treat their drinking water and use proper hygiene practices, such as washing their hands before eating or after going to the bathroom.
You never oughta drink water when it ain't runnin'.
It is still just unbelievable to us that diarrhea is one of the leading causes of child deaths in the world.
It is often difficult to definitively link a specific instance of disease to one particular cause, like water pollution. Even when tests show that drinking water is polluted, it can be hard to pinpoint the source of the contamination.
