Each day hundreds of thousands of
people in Sudan and in greater East Africa, walk for hours through the
dangers of the desert to collect water to drink. This water is often
contaminated with parasites such as Guinea Worm, Schistosomes; and the
dangerous Cholera bacteria. The United Nations reported in April, 2001,
that 36% of all reported hospitalization cases in Sudan pertain to
parasitic intrusions. Many more cases of such illnesses go unreported,
especially in the more devastated South, due to a staggering lack of
health care infrastructure. The result: there is rampant disease
throughout the region, caused in many cases by an unsafe water supply.
Water-borne disease often results in a diminished immune system which
then allows the intrusion of other opportunistic diseases. This exposure
results in pain, sickness, and often death, especially among infants and
children.
Another consequence of the lack of
having safe water available locally is the instability of villages.
Every dry season, entire villages migrate with their livestock to find
water. Such migration prevents the establishment of schools, health
clinics, markets, and a general social infrastructure.
