Water Borne Disease

Discover your Formula to Prevent Water Borne Diseases

A Few Fast Facts

  1. As per WHO, water-borne diseases kill around 1.8 million people annually worldwide.
  2. World Bank says that 21% of communicable disease are waterborne in India.
  3. Groundwater in one-third of India’s 600 districts is not fit for drinking.

Water is the driving force of all nature. But it can be extremely detrimental for your health if it is contaminated with human or animal feces or contains heavy metals. Pathogenic microorganisms thrive and reproduce in water and can cause diarrhea, cholera, typhoid fever, and many other diseases. Presence of heavy metals can cause even cancer. So, guard your health against water-borne diseases by following below-mentioned tips.

How to prevent water-borne diseases?

Disinfect water

With most of the areas in India not having access to clean water, it is possible that you may not be using pure water for cooking and drinking. Hence, you must disinfect water regularly by boiling it with common iodine for around 10 minutes to make it safe for consumption.

You can also install a high-quality water purifier at home to get rid of dangerous microorganisms and heavy metals present in water. Getting bottled water delivered to you from a trusted vendor is also a safe option to avoid water-borne diseases.

Maintain personal hygiene

Neglecting personal and food hygiene can make you susceptible to various diseases. To not let such a situation arise, you should wash hands regularly before and after picking a baby or pet, coming out of the toilet, and doing various chores at home. You should also keep utensils, cutlery and cutting boards clean.

Go for hygienic food

Indians are famed street food consumers. Unfortunately, you cannot be sure of the quality of water being used by street vendors in their food preparation.  Moreover, a high amount of environmental dust and lack of care in securing the food from such pollution by the vendors further deteriorates the hygiene factor. So, watch out before heading for a plate of your favorite gol gappas.

Check the origin of your vegetables and fruits

Vegetables, fruits or any food grown in soil that has contaminated underground water or is irrigated with contaminated water are potent enough to cause serious health complications.

In Delhi NCR, a lot of people have to access only to vegetables grown on the banks of Yamuna River. Yamuna River’s water contains a high amount of metals and feces (many times above the permissible limits). So, if you have vegetables in your kitchen coming from Yamuna or Hindon river belts, it’s time for some reflection as these can cause serious health complications.

Ensure vaccination & spread awareness

Getting yourself vaccinated is ideal to control the outcome of water-borne diseases like typhoid and cholera. So, you should get yourself and your family vaccinated to counter various water-borne diseases. You must also make your family and neighborhood aware of how important it is for them to have clean water in order to prevent water-borne diseases.

Content Reviewed by – Asian Hospital Medical Editors
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