17 March 2000
Water is one of the major determinants of health without which good health is compromised. With better management of water there are increased chances of people having access to portable water and therefore improved health and quality of life in our nation.
Proper management of water is the key to healthy communities, says Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
Over the past five years, the government has enabled over five million South Africans to have running water, ensuring that their water is purified and that communities are safe from emerging and re-emerging diseases, that would come by as a result of polluted water.
The Department of Health has recently embarked on a water fluoridation scheme. This scheme will particularly benefit rural people, who, for many years, have suffered consequences of unclean and unfluoridated water, which have manifested them through decaying teeth.
The National Water Week campaign seeks to draw the attention of the public to the value and management of water, as well as good water use practices that will keep such water clean and safe for human consumption and use. The campaign also aims to highlight the benefits of water. It exposes the South African population to realities regarding water and its shortage in the country.
More often than not water availability is taken for granted by many people, who therefore do not heed the call to use water sparingly or sensibly.
The activity of cleaning rivers is an indication that it is a priority of the government to keep water clean for human consumption and other uses, as well as to stop it from being contaminated. In some instances, river water may be a direct source of drinking for people, crops and animals. It is costly to improve polluted water to healthy, drinking standard levels. It is therefore extremely important not to pollute water. It is even costly to improve deliberately contaminated water.
"The public should understand the part they should play in order to ensure that water, as a resource, is used sensibly if the people of South Africa are to benefit from it," says Dr Tshabalala-Msimang.
One of the activities that the Department of Health has embarked on to ensure clean, safe and valuable water in South Africa is fluoridation of such water. The benefit of this will be a lesser degree or total eradication of tooth decay as a result of water, particularly prevalent among rural and disadvantaged communities. Bad management of water places a heavy burden on people's health as well as on government, it increases chances of disease, which will in turn need management and cure.
Chances for better hygiene and health are enhances with improved water accessibility, this in turn also leads to better chances of economic activity.
Dr Tshabalala-Msimang says, "National Water Week serves to highlight the importance and value of clean and healthy water and its use should linger in the minds of the South African population. This will help the government's integrated effort to ensure a healthy and safe environment and population through water." The burden of diseases due to contaminated water or lack of sufficient water is numerous. The common ones being intestinal condition eye and skin problems. These burdens can be reduced should people adopt correct practices and attitudes towards water and its management. National Water Week also advocates for re-use of water as a means of conserving portable water. It also serves to encourage the public to identify avenues for new ideas by contributing towards sound water management and therefore improvement of life and health of the nation.
The easy availability of water is to be challenged by the recent floods.
While water is a vehicle for good health, it also has a potential to do the opposite if not well managed. It can spread confined diseases or conditions, especially if proper sanitary facilities habits are not followed.
The message to South Africans is that they should adopt good, proven and safe sanitation practices that guarantee positive outcomes. Bad sanitation or human waste disposal may end up spreading cholera or any gastro-intestinal condition, should only one infected person be disposing of the faecal waste in the water rather than in the latrine. Just as non-availability of water can expose people to ill health, the abundance of water also has a potential to do the same, should bad practices be adopted.
It is possible to reduce chances of any communicable conditions and diseases if sound water practices and management tactics are practiced. Survival through water is largely dependent on the populations. " It is our duty to act responsibly as individuals in order to guarantee our own survival health, especially for our most vulnerable, the young, aged and HIV/AIDS infected among others," says the Minister of Health.
Contact: Ms Nothemba Dlali
Phone: 012 312 0713/ 082 775 4791
Fax: 012 325 7813/ 4
Issued by: the GCIS and the Department of Health