REPUBLIC OF BENIN
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MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
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NATIONAL WATER INSTITUTE
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AFRICA CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR WATER AND SANITATION
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WATER AND SANITATION ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
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COURSE : Scientific English
SPECIALTY : WASH
LEVEL OF STUDY : Master 1
Title: Teacher :
Student :
WATER Mr. OLORY Bienvenu
DAWOUSSOU Afi Messifa
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RELAT
ACADEMIC YEAR: 2023-2024
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DISEAS
ES
TEXT : Water-related diseases
The importance of the impact of water-related diseases on human health has been recognized
as a major threat to sustainable human development in some international forums, including
the Millennium Development Goals, the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(Johannesburg, 26 August – 4 September 2002), the 3rd World Water Forum (Kyoto, Shiga
and Osaka, Japan March 2003), the Environment for Europe process and the Dushanbe
International Freshwater Forum (Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 29 August – 1 September 2003),
among others. Within the WHO European Region, the majority of WHO Member States
committed themselves to a coordinated fight against water-related diseases through the
Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of
Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes.
Following the entry into force of the Protocol on Water and Health in 2005 and the first
Meeting of the Parties in 2007, the decision was made to focus on two groups of water-
related diseases: those with a high epidemic potential, including cholera, enterohaemorrhagic
Escherichia coli, viral hepatitis A, bacillary dysentery and typhoid. A second group of
emerging diseases were recognized to be of increasing health concern in the region. These
include campylobacteriosis, cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis and legionellosis. In addition, some
pathologies are recognized to be locally important, such as helminth infections. Over 30
million cases of water-related disease could be avoided globally each year through water and
sanitation interventions. Investing in water supply and sanitation has produced benefits far
greater than those directly related to the cost of treatment for water-related diseases (Bartram,
2002).
Gastrointestinal infections are one of the principal causes of morbidity and mortality among
children. For children under 5 years of age in developing countries it is estimated that a
median of 3.2 episodes of diarrhea occur per child per year (Kosek, Bern & Guerrant, 2003).
Estimates of mortality revealed that 4.9 children per 1000 die each year as a result of
diarrheal illnesses in the first five years of life. Emerging pathogens in drinking-water have
become increasingly important since the late 1980s. The newly identified and re-emerging
water-related pathogens include Campylobacter spp., human-pathogenic enterohaemorrhagic
E. coli (EHEC) strains, Yersinia enterocolitica, and the parasites Cryptosporidium parvum
and Giardia lamblia. Such emerging pathogens in drinking-water have led to new demands
in drinking-water hygiene, even in countries having achieved a high standard of water
treatment since the late 1980s.
1
In dependency on the route of transmission, waterborne pathogens must be subdivided into
those that are transmitted via ingestion and those that are transmitted via inhalation or
contact.
KEYWORDS
The Protocol on Water and Health defines “water-related disease” to mean “any significant
adverse effects on human health, such as death, disability, illness or disorders, caused directly
or indirectly by the condition, or changes in the quantity or quality, of any waters”.
Drinking-water: means “water which is used, or intended to be available for use, by humans
for drinking, cooking, food preparation, personal hygiene or similar purposes”
Groundwater: means “all water which is below the surface of the ground in the saturation
zone and in direct contact with the ground or subsoil”.
Waterborne diseases: are caused by the ingestion of faecally contaminated water. Cholera
and typhoid fever are classical examples of waterborne diseases, where only a few highly
infectious pathogens are needed to cause severe diarrhea. Shigellosis, hepatitis A,
amoebic dysentery and other gastrointestinal diseases can also be waterborne.
water-hygiene: diseases occur due to the lack of adequate water supply
for washing, bathing and cleaning. Pathogens are transmitted from person to person or by
contact with contaminated surfaces.
2
COMMENT
The Protocol on Water and Health is a legally binding international agreement addressing the
protection of human health and well-being through linking sustainable water management
and the prevention, control and reduction of water-related diseases (WRDs). Amongst other
objectives and provisions, the Protocol supports the implementation of the International
Health Regulations, in particular the requirements to strengthen and maintain core public
health capacities for surveillance of WRDs and outbreak response systems.
Waterborne diseases with high potential for developing into epidemics, such as cholera, were
brought under control through the works of John Snow (1854), Filippo Pacini (1854) and
Robert
Koch (1893), among others. Diseases such as hepatitis A, typhoid and paratyphoid, bacillary
dysentery and infections by Escherichia coli are still significant health concerns in many
countries of the Region, while endemic or imported cholera cases demand constant vigilance.
These differences have been taken into account as far as possible. It is hoped
that this guidance will assist all stakeholders, policy-makers, health professionals and water
utility managers, among others, in developing a common course of action to reduce the level
of
water-related diseases in the WHO European Region, in line with the provisions of the
Protocol
on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary
Watercourses and International Lakes.
