Water and Sanitation: A Global Priority

This chapter focuses on the domestic and industrial water supply, waste disposal, and the promotion of hygiene and recent technologies in the prevention of diseases. Water sanitationWater and Sanitation programs offer numerous benefits in the improvement of human health and nutrition, and are considered because they have important implications in the share of the cost that attributes to the health sector. The data revealed the fact that in spite of the existence of traditional wells and bore wells in rural areas, most of the people adopt practices that affect the quality of drinking water. Their social and economic situations lead to the use of alternate forms of water, polluted by solid and liquid wastes, and the consumption of the same leading to waterborne diseases. The main health benefit of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene is a reduction in water-borne diseases, although the effects on other diseases are substantial. On the other hand, the situation of people in the urban areas pose challengeChallenges” as their livelihood is in cities, where sewerage and waste disposal seem to be difficult and the space for sanitation are all comparably on a higher rate. Inequalities in access are multiplied when sewage is removed and discharged into storm drains, waterways or landfills, rivers, lakes, or the ocean thereby resulting in pollution. The analysis assists in deriving the estimates of the potential effects of water supply and excreta disposal leading to health hazards and diseases, globally and by region, and with cost data to derive cost-effectiveness estimates. As a conclusion, simple human entitlements like potable water and appropriate nourishment must be prioritized by the government, non-governmental, and stakeholders with utmost priority.