Ravi’s family of five lives on the land demarcating the village and it’s general dumpster, they have had to live there for a while, after their dad lost the deed to their former house through debt.
Staying In such a polluted area has made illness a norm for them especially airborne and water borne diseases, as the river where they collect water from is contaminated, and since there is no standard latrine system, they take to defecating along the dumpster tracks, when they airdry their foods, they rarely use covering to protect it from flies and insects, and at times when food goes bad, they settle for reheating. All these unhealthy habits combine and open them up to infections and diseases, which they rarely treat properly, but settle for home-made remedies that do not offer lasting results as they cannot afford to go to hospitals and make expenses on the right treatments.
This is a typical rural lifestyle, common amongst the less enlightened, where they never seem to seek out the source of a problem but only to battle it on their own way.
Proper environmental hygiene needs to be taught to these fellows, as it will drastically reduce their mortality rates and teach them to care for their homes properly and also treat long accumulated infections.
What is proper hygiene:
This refers to the set of practices associated with the preservation of health and healthy living, these practices include sanitation which means the prevention of human contact with wastes, for hygienic purposes. It also means promoting health through the prevention of human contact with the hazards associated with the lack of healthy food, clean water and healthful housing, the control of vectors (living organisms that transmit diseases), and a clean environment. It focuses on management of waste produced by human activities.
Our concern is mainly on environmental hygiene. Environmental health can be defined as the control of all the factors in a person’s physical environment that have, or can have, a damaging effect on their physical, mental or social wellbeing. The issue of environmental health is now a global matter under the guidance of the United Nations (UN) through the World Health Organization.
How this awareness for proper environmental hygiene be achieved:
- By volunteers reaching out to the citizens, and instructing them on proper hygiene habits, like proper waste disposal, keeping the home and its environs neat, food preservation amongst others.
- By initiating local enforcement officers that checkmate unhealthy and careless attitude of certain individuals in her community.
- By highlighting the results of unhealthy life style, illnesses and infection.
- By making health care affordable for every one, so they can get treated or tested depending on what ails them.
These simple practices can go a long way in helping rural communities take care of their environment, and prolonging life span.