Doctors Without Borders and Clean Water Crisis

Clean Water Crisis Introduction Every human being on earth necessitates at least 20 to 50 liters of clean, safe water on an everyday basis for the purposes of drinking, cooking, and basically maintaining themselves to be clean. However, there is a significant need for clean water in countries. In the contemporary setting, statistics indicate that 1 in 9 individuals lack accessibility to clean and safe water (Water.org). There are 844 million people across the globe that are presently living without access to clean water.

This lack of clean water has resulted in a health crisis as it causes diseases. Notably, access to safe water leads to poor sanitation, which consequently adds to deteriorated health and increases the spread of infectious diseases. The inference of this is that it results in increased child and mortality rates. Statistics further indicate that every 2 minutes in the present day, a child does because of a water-related disease.

There could be $18.5 billion in terms of economic benefits on an annual basis from evaded deaths if there was universal accessibility to clean water and sanitation (Water.Org). Imperatively, safe and easily accessible water is significant for public health, whether it is utilized for drinking, domestic use, food production or leisure purposes. Better-quality water supply and sanitation, in addition to better management of water resources, can increase nations’ economic growth and can add greatly to poverty alleviation.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), water that is contaminated in tandem with poor sanitation are associated with the transmission of diseases, for instance, diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and polio. Missing, insufficient, or unsuitably managed water and sanitation services leads to the exposure of persons to preventable health risks. This is especially the instance in regions and health care establishments where patients as well as members of staff are placed at greater risk of infection and disease when there is a lack of water, sanitation and also hygiene services.

Approximately, over 840,000 persons are approximated to die on an annual basis from diarrhoea owing to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation, and hand hygiene. Nevertheless, the downside of this circumstance is that diarrhoea is generally avoidable, and the demises of 361 000 children below the age of 5 years could be evaded each year if these risk factors were taken into consideration.

In the regions where water is not easily or readily accessible, people individuals may make the decision that handwashing is not an important activity, thereby adding to the probability of diarrhoea and other diseases (World Health Organization). As a nursing major and an advocate for universal health, I believe that ensuring that there is accessibility to clean and safe water for numerous populations across the world would result in a decline in child and adult mortality rates.

Doctor Without Borders is a global humanitarian group that is committed to the provision of medical care to individuals in distress (Wass and Southgate 441). They have a played a pivotal role in providing care to victims of different disease outbreaks. In a nutshell, Doctors Without Borders provides medical assistance where it is needed the most all over the world (Doctors Without Borders).

Doctors Without Borders can play a fundamental role in the water crisis, ranging from the locating and delivering of clean drinking water to thousands of people to also building latrines to ensure water sanitation. The humanitarian group was established in 1971 by 13 physicians and volunteers who were not satisfied with the impartiality and neutral stance of the Red Cross.

These founding members of the organization had the belief that persons in suffering and anguish had the right to medical intervention and that the need for providing help to those individuals surpassed national boundaries. They also had the sentiment that they were obligated to create awareness and advocate against injustice, regardless of whether it may offend government administrations. A year into its establishment, the humanitarian group undertook its first major relief effort, providing assistance to victims in Nicaragua after an earthquake.

Since then, other major missions comprised of victims in war taking place in different nations such as Lebanon, Afghanistan and the Russian republic of Chechnya (Doctors Without Borders). Since then, Doctors Without Borders has significant grown and has continued to strive in the provision of relief to areas struck with famine, offering medical care to causalities of war and battle in addition to providing assistance to refugees in numerous nations across the globe.

Furthermore, in 2003, Doctors Without Borders was a key partner in the foundation of Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, which operates in an endeavor to form medications for illnesses such as tuberculosis and malaria (Doctors Without Borders). The organization has put in place key measures to facilitate swift and effective response to cases of emergency. One measure is the creation of pre-packaged disaster kits, which are usually ready for transport in a matter of hours. In the present moment, these kits are utilized as models by emergency relief establishments worldwide.

A second measure is the establishment of supply centers globally. At the moment, Doctors Without Borders has four logistical centered that are positioned in Europe and East Africa in addition to storage centered for emergency materials that are based on East Asia and Central America. The main purpose of these centers includes the procurement, testing and storage of equipment. As a result, it is possible to load up and fly out airplanes to different places in a matter of 24 hours. The final measure is cost-reduction logistics.

In the event that the humanitarian group is responding to situations that are not calamitous, most of the material and medications necessitated for relief activities are transported by sea (Doctors Without Borders). A fitting example of the organization’s relief efforts is the case of Uganda. In the nation, the global humanitarian group lays emphasis in providing response to the medical needs of refugees and the improvement of the accessibility to medical care (Doctors Without Borders).

In 2017, significant numbers of refugees emanating from South Sudan began arriving in Uganda because of war in their home country. 85 percent of this population comprised of women and children (Redfield 25). In this regard, Doctors Without Borders developed and espoused a variety of activities to help refugees.

For instance, in Yumbe District, Doctors Without Borders’ teams facilitated over 270,000 primary health care consultations, admitted just over 3,500 patients to facilities they managed, helps over 710 mothers in their pregnancies and also provided mental health assistance in addition to care of victims of sexual violence. What is more, the members of this group rendered vaccinations and conducted health surveillance projects. The logistical staff members strived to enhance accessibility to drinking water, through supplying the residents in the region with approximately 2 million liters of water on an everyday basis (Fox 105).

It is possible to volunteer with Doctors Without Borders. Local volunteers that are above the age of 18, from various backgrounds, ethnicities and interests enjoying giving their time into the United States office can join. Volunteers are delegated to work in positions which might encompass clerical work or expert services and experience. To become a volunteer, an individual can complete the volunteer application that is found on the website. Subsequently, a person is placed amongst the volunteer group and thereafter will be obtaining notifications regarding both short-term and long-term volunteering opportunities.

A person is entitled to any kind of volunteering position, reliant on one’s qualifications (Doctors Without Borders). Donations to Doctors Without Borders will enable the organization are its lifesaving endeavors and emergencies and therefore save more lives. A person can donate any amount, there are no restrictions, through the different.