Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Published : June 4, 2022 10:30 AM IST
Madhya Pradesh is witnessing unprecedented water shortage, and many people are falling ill due to consumption of contaminated water. Two people have reportedly died and around 30 people were hospitalised after drinking contaminated water in Narsinghpur district on Thursday.
A senior doctor at the Narsinghpur district hospital where these people were treated told IANS news agency that they complained of stomach pain, which occurred due to consumption of contaminated water. Two of them have died while the others are undergoing treatment, the doctor said.
The district administration has ordered a probe into the matter, and a health team has been deployed in the village from where this incident was reported, the doctor informed the news agency.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 2 billion people live in water-stressed countries, and about 2 billion people worldwide use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces.
Microbial contamination of drinking-water due to contamination with faeces poses the greatest risk to drinking-water safety, and can spread diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio, it said.
Consumption of microbiologically contaminated drinking water is estimated to cause 4,85,000 diarrhoeal deaths each year, as per the UN health agency.
Cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio are some of the diseases linked to consumption of contaminated water and poor sanitation.
Diarrhoea is the most common disease caused due to contaminated food and water. As many as 8,29,000 people, including many children aged under 5 years, are estimated to die each year from diarrhoea as a result of unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hand hygiene. Yet diarrhoea is largely preventable, many lives could be saved if these risk factors were addressed, the WHO noted.
Around 1 lakh children in India die because of diarrhoea every year, according to data from the National Health Mission.
Health experts around the world have been highlighting the importance of hand hygiene to avoid infectious diseases like diarrhoea, cholera and hepatitis, as well as Covid.
Boiling is an efficient way to kill disease-causing microorganisms that may be present in the water. If you can't boil water, health authorities recommend disinfect water using household bleach.
With inputs from agencies
