Conference on causes of diseases due to poor environment to Africans with World.Future Council

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Conference on causes of diseases due to poor environment to Africans with World.Future Council
by \| 25-09-2013 01:44 0
During the conference about disease and Environment issues to African with World Future Council held at Protea Hotel in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tz. Urbanisation greatly influences water quantity and quality. In most African cities, sewage treatment is poor, and sometimes not even treated at all. Untreated water is a breeding ground for bacteria, parasites, and viruses. Environmental diseases and African children Children are at greater risk of environmental disease than adults. This is especially so in the case of children under five, but children of all ages – even the unborn – are at greater risk than adults. The baby in the womb may be damaged by exposure to environmental poisons, such as lead. Children under age five breathe more air, drink more water, and eat more food per unit of body weight than adults do. Putting things in the mouth exposes babies and toddlers to unclean objects. In 2001, diarrhoeal infections caused nearly 2 million deaths in children under age under five, primarily due to dehydration. Where children do not die from diarrhoea, they may be left underweight, physically stunted, and vulnerable to more disease. Malaria kills about 1 million children under age five in sub-Saharan Africa most of these children are living in remote rural areas with poor access to health services. In developing countries, children under five are more at risk of exposure to pesticides, which can cause eye, skin, and respiratory irritations and long-term health problems such as cancer. Lead is a major contaminator of soil, air, drinking water, and food, and is a threat to the digestive systems of young children. Scavenging for food in poor informal settlements also exposes children to environmental hazards. Respiratory problems and death from smoke inhalation from fires in huts are a major killer of children in Africa. The inhalation of leaded gas is also an important cause of respiratory diseases in Africa. Types of environmental diseases Environmental diseases can be divided into three kinds: Vector-borne diseases: these are usually transmitted through insects and include: • Malaria, which is transmitted through the bite of certain mosquitoes, is an example. It is estimated that in the SADC region about 19-21 million people fall sick from malaria annually. Malaria is strongly connected to environmental factors such as climate, rainfall, irrigation, and land clearing. • Human trypanosomiasis is caused by the bite of the tsetse fly, and the sickness it causes is also known as sleeping sickness. It is estimated that every year, over 250 000 people die because they are not diagnosed or treated properly. Sleeping sickness is a disease of rural areas, where shepherds, goatherds, farmers etc are most exposed to the fly. If the disease is untreated, the sufferer will die. The only drug available at present is melarsoprol although it is exposes 10% of infected people to further risk. • Schistosomiasis (bilharzia) is endemic in 74 developing countries with more than 80% of infected people living in sub-Saharan Africa. The parasite lives in a snail, which releases it in water and it penetrates the skin of humans. One kind of Schistosomiasis causes bladder cancer if untreated, while other kinds cause damage

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