Ronan Kelly
Retired 2020
Raw sewage kills in Madagascar
August 10, 2011 at 2:05 AM by AHN ? Leave a Comment
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (IRIN) ? About a third of Madagascar?s 20 million people do not have access to water for washing and most of the rest share unsanitary toilet facilities, according to a July 2011 World Bank Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) report. The threat of diarrhoea and other diseases is particularly acute in some of the poorer suburbs of the capital Antananarivo.
?There is no formal waste disposal for the moment in Antananarivo,? Sylvie Ramanantsoa, a representative from Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) in Madagascar, told IRIN, and raw sewerage tends to end up downstream in the Ikopa river, the country?s second largest.
The problem was exacerbated by the city?s water table being about one metre below the surface, which makes waste treatment ?a big public health issue?, she said.
A network of canals, storm water drains and channels criss-crossing the city are choked with rubbish, causing flooding in low-lying areas during the March to November rainy season.
In April 2011, the UN Children?s Fund (UNICEF) reported a worrying rise in pneumonic plague ? spread by fleas carried on rodents and linked to poor sanitation ? in Antananarivo and in the town of Talatavolonondry, 27km to the north: The Health Ministry reported more than 310 cases of plague and 49 deaths by the end of March. UNICEF responded with a mass disinfection campaign that targeted more than 28,000 families in the most exposed areas of the capital and surrounding towns.
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http://gantdaily.com/2011/08/10/raw-sewage-kills-in-madagascar/
August 10, 2011 at 2:05 AM by AHN ? Leave a Comment
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (IRIN) ? About a third of Madagascar?s 20 million people do not have access to water for washing and most of the rest share unsanitary toilet facilities, according to a July 2011 World Bank Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) report. The threat of diarrhoea and other diseases is particularly acute in some of the poorer suburbs of the capital Antananarivo.
?There is no formal waste disposal for the moment in Antananarivo,? Sylvie Ramanantsoa, a representative from Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) in Madagascar, told IRIN, and raw sewerage tends to end up downstream in the Ikopa river, the country?s second largest.
The problem was exacerbated by the city?s water table being about one metre below the surface, which makes waste treatment ?a big public health issue?, she said.
A network of canals, storm water drains and channels criss-crossing the city are choked with rubbish, causing flooding in low-lying areas during the March to November rainy season.
In April 2011, the UN Children?s Fund (UNICEF) reported a worrying rise in pneumonic plague ? spread by fleas carried on rodents and linked to poor sanitation ? in Antananarivo and in the town of Talatavolonondry, 27km to the north: The Health Ministry reported more than 310 cases of plague and 49 deaths by the end of March. UNICEF responded with a mass disinfection campaign that targeted more than 28,000 families in the most exposed areas of the capital and surrounding towns.
...
http://gantdaily.com/2011/08/10/raw-sewage-kills-in-madagascar/