The above picture capture by BC Global convey to Renk, South Sudan, Dated July 5th, 2023

Drinking Water and Health in South Sudan

BC Global Social Media, South Sudan

The reality of drinking water in South Sudan is that people are using a drinking water source contaminated with faeces. Microbial contamination of drinking-water as a result of contamination with faeces poses the greatest risk to drinking-water safety. Microbiologically contaminated drinking water can transmit diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio and is estimated to cause 485,000 diarrheal deaths each year.

Inequalities Gap

Supply of drinking water by BC Global staffs to the farmers in Jebel Ladu, South Sudan

In most parts of the country, sociocultural and economic inequalities gaps persist, not only between urban and rural areas where animals drink from the same place humans use it for drinking, bathing and washing but also in towns and the big cities of Juba, Malakal, and Wau where people live in low-income, informal settlements usually having less access to improved

sources of drinking water. Most of the water sources are delivered through Donkeys and track water tank to carrying water to households from the Nile.

Inappropriate Management of Water and Sanitation Services

Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio. Absent, inadequate, or inappropriately managed water and sanitation services expose individuals to preventable health risks. This is particularly the case in health care facilities where both patients and staff are placed at additional risk of infection and disease when water, sanitation and hygiene services are lacking.

One of the broken Boreholes need an immediate rehabilitation

Inadequate management of Hafir, the natural presence of water and other wastewater means the drinking water of millions of people is dangerously contaminated or chemically polluted. It can also be of health significance, including arsenic and fluoride, while other chemicals, such as lead, may be elevated in drinking water as a result of leeching from water supply components in contact with drinking water.

Some 829,000 people are estimated to die each year from diarrhea as a result of unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hand hygiene. Yet diarrhea is largely preventable.

Better Water Sources

When water comes from improved and more accessible sources, people spend less time and effort physically collecting it, meaning they can be productive in other ways. This can also result in greater personal safety and reducing musculoskeletal disorders by reducing the need to make long or risky journeys to collect and carry water. Better water sources also

mean less expenditure on health, as people are less likely to fall ill and incur medical costs and are better able to remain economically productive.

Digging wells as an alternative for under ground drinking water

With children particularly at risk from water-related diseases, access to improved sources of water can result in better health, and therefore better school attendance, with positive longer-term consequences for their lives.

NGOs’ Response

Many international organizations have come to South Sudan to witness and continue lobby for the public health and water quality. World Health Organization (WHO) also supports some part of the country to implement the drinking-water quality guidelines through the

development of practical guidance materials and provision of direct country support. This includes the development of locally relevant drinking-water quality regulations aligned to the principles in the Guidelines, the development, implementation and auditing of water safety plans and strengthening of surveillance practices.

Related

Guidelines for drinking-water quality

Progress on household drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2020

Report: State of the world’s drinking-water

echnical brief: Lead in drinking-water