Assignment 2
Option 3: Mortality and Clean Water
List the ten countries with the highest levels of infant and child mortality; list also the ten countries with the lowest levels of infant and child mortality. Compare these lists with the proportion of these countries’ population living with access to clean water. What is the relationship between mortality and fresh water?
Ten Lowest Infant and Child Mortality Rate:
| Ten Highest Infant and Child Mortality Rate:
|
In the world, different countries have access to different necessities; some more than others. In our world today it is evident that not all countries have the benefits that some more developed countries do. In countries where cities are more developed there is a distinct difference in mortality rates of children and infants. While researching further, there have been questions whether mortality rates are directly influenced by a country’s access to clean water.
It is clear that access to water is not the only problem that resolves around a water source. Some countries might have water but a wide range of problems come with it. These problems include international and regional disputes over water, water scarcity, water contamination, unsustainable use of groundwater, and the threat of climate change. The most evident problem, however, is the failure to provide the most basic water service to billions of people; clean water.
In countries that have access to clean water, waterborne illnesses are not a huge problem, but in countries where there is water but it isn’t clean, waterborne illnesses are a major problem. While data are incomplete, the World Health Organization estimated that there are four billion cases of diarrhea each year in addition to millions of other cases of illnesses associated to unsanitary water. Diseases due to lack of clean water is one of the major reasons mortality rates are lower in developing countries. Other than diarrhea there are other severe illnesses such as cholera, typhoid, amoebic, bacillary dysentery, edengue, filariasis, malaria, onchocerciasis, trypanosomiasis and yellow fever. Some of these diseases are due to bacteria, or insect residue and eggs in water. Another major factor with water illnesses has to do with personal hygiene. In countries where clean water isn’t available it isn’t likely that citizens are going to be clean. In this case they are exposed to disease that is caused by poor personal hygiene and skin or eye contact with contaminated water. These diseases include scabies, trachoma and flea, lice and tick-borne diseases. In countries that have clean water these diseases and number are decreased by more than half, thus we can infer that mortality rates are directly linked to access to clean water.
The failure to meet basic human needs for water is widely acknowledged to be a major development failure of the current century; yet, efforts to provide these basic necessities are dwindling. The price of this failure will continue to be paid by the poorest developing countries in sickness, population number, and employment opportunities. Water cleanliness is a huge factor in determining the mortality rates of the world.
References:
- CIA World Factbook
- Textbook
