WATER AND SANITATION: HOW GERMS SPREAD IN WATER

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• Feces and Urine: Water can easily be contaminated when used as a toilet by humans or animals, or when a toilet leaks into the water system. This occurs more quickly with still water, but can also happen with moving water. When urine or feces from a person with a disease like typhoid or cholera gets into the water, that bacteria can be transferred to a human. Animals often pass giardia (a disease that causes diarrhea).

• Pollution and Chemicals: If you live next to a factory that is emitting chemical or solution into the water, it can be full of toxins - this includes lead, which can cause high blood pressure and issues with getting pregnant.

• Dead Animals: Dead animals can contaminate water with a number of diseases, including worms.

• Larva: Many parasites (bugs) lay their eggs in water. In some cases, these larvae can grow into worms that live in the gut and cause stomach problems and may even make it difficult to digest enough food. In other instances, these larva hatch and can then bite you and give you a disease - such as with mosquitos biting you and giving you malaria. Trash: Trash can carry a lot of bacteria when in the water, and can help make spaces where more bacteria or larva can grow. Trash in your water leads to contaminated water.

 

HOW TO: PROMOTE GOOD HYGIENE ​AND SANITATION

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• Building toilets: Germs that cause disease are often spread through human waste. This can happen many ways - from not washing hands after pooping, pooping and peeing in places where people collect drinking and bathing water, flooding washing feces into homes, etc. One way to reduce the chances of getting sick because of waste is through well built, non-water based toilets. They help stop open defecation, defecation in local water, and bucket toilets - which can help reduce how often people in a community are exposed to things touched by poop germs.

• Drinking clean water: The United Nations and World Health Organization have declared access to clean water and sanitation a basic human right. Safe drinking water may be one of the biggest ways that we can protect ourselves from getting sick.

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HOW TO: PRACTICE GOOD PERSONAL HYGIENE

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• Washing the body often: If possible, everybody should have a shower or a bath every day. However, there may be times when this is not possible, for example, when people are out camping or there is a shortage of water. If this happens, a swim or a wash all over the body with a wet sponge or cloth will do

• Cleaning the teeth at least once a day: Brushing the teeth after each meal is the best way of making sure that gum disease and tooth decay are avoided. It is very important to clean teeth after breakfast and immediately before going to bed

• Washing the hair with soap or shampoo at least once a week

• Washing hands with soap after going to the toilet

• Washing hands with soap before preparing and/or eating food: During normal daily activities, such as working and playing, disease causing germs may get onto the hands and under the nails. If the germs are not washed off before preparing food or eating, they may get onto the food

• Changing into clean clothes: Dirty clothes should be washed with laundry soap before wearing them again

• Hanging clothes in the sun to dry: The sun's rays will kill some disease-causing germs and parasites

• Turning away from other people and covering the nose and mouth with a tissue or the hand when coughing or sneezing: If this is not done, droplets of liquid containing germs from the nose and mouth will be spread in the air and other people can breathe them in, or the droplets can get onto food

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