Photos

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This photo has been shot in Chong Kneas — a floating village over Tonle Sap Great lake in Cambodia.

Whether in dry or high-water season, there is a permanent issue of drinking water. Villagers are drinking the lake water, which they also used for bathing, toilet, cooking, washing after defecation and washing dishes after eating. The health problem became even worse in the dry season when the water level was lower, muddy, full of dead fish mixed with human manure. This is when contaminants increased to the worst and when children living on the lake were particularly susceptible to diarrhea due to a lack of hygiene.

In this picture, you can witness the kid refills lake water into her drinking bottle.

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Children especially continue to pay the price in lost lives, missed schooling, in disease, malnutrition and poverty. Poor sanitation, hygiene and unsafe water claim the lives of an estimated over 1.5 million children under the age of five every year.

It is estimated that improved sanitation facilities could reduce diarrhea-related morbidity in young children by more than one-third. If hygiene promotion is added, such as teaching proper hand washing, it could be reduced by two thirds. It would also help accelerate economic and social development in countries where poor sanitation is a major cause for lost work and school days because of illness. Girls in particular – especially when they hit puberty – miss out on schooling because of the lack of clean and safe latrines.

Millions of people – especially the poor in developing countries – are forced to defecate in bags, buckets, fields or roadside ditches, causing serious health risks to them and others. Progress requires broad cooperation through public and private partnerships, community involvement and public awareness. (Source)


UNICEF estimates that only 16 per cent of rural Cambodians have access to adequate sanitation and 65 per cent to safe water. In urban areas the situation is much better, but some 80 per cent of Cambodians still live in the countryside.

Water and sanitation has been identified as one of the major causes of the high diarrhea incidence in Cambodia. In particular, the sanitation situation is very poor. Cambodia has in fact been classified as one of the countries in the world with the lowest sanitation coverage in the rural areas.

Many rural households lack basic sanitation facilities, and awareness of good hygiene practices is limited. There is often no toilet nor any soap for washing hands at home or in school. Children are more likely than adults to touch unclean surfaces and are therefore particularly vulnerable to unhealthy environments.(Source)


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