Life Skills: Grade 5 Local Environmental Health Problems

LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS

Unfortunately health problems are a very real part of life in every country.
Health standards vary in different countries; which means that some
countries experience more health problems than others.

Clean living environments, proper sanitation, access to health

professionals and being able to afford healthy food and proper care, is
necessary in order to fight disease and illness.

What does Sanitation Mean?

The World Health Organisation defines sanitation in the following way: "Sanitation generally
refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and
faeces”.

Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease world-

wide, and improving sanitation is known to have a
significant beneficial impact on health, both in
households and across communities. The word 'sanitation'
also refers to the maintenance of hygienic conditions,
through services such as garbage collection and
wastewater disposal.

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Some of the members of the My Cyberwall Gang are going to present some illnesses that can
be life threatening if they are not treated properly.

Percy talks about Malaria

Certain areas in South Africa are more prone to malaria;

these are areas where the climate is hot and tropical.
Examples of some of these places are: Mpumalanga,
Limpopo and the game parks, for example, the Kruger
National Park. If travelling to these areas, you can use
medication to help prevent malaria. A doctor has to prescribe
the medication.

This disease is transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes. This means a mosquito
has to have bitten someone with malaria in order to spread the disease.

Malaria is caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected
mosquitoes. Malaria cannot be transmitted directly from person to person like a common cold
or flu.

Not all mosquitos carry the malaria parasite. A certain type of mosquito, the female
Anopheles, carries the malaria parasite.

Anopheles Stephensi Mosquito

Source: Wikipedia Public Domain

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Mosquitoes bite mostly during the evening and night, and it is important to be responsible
and protect oneself as much as possible from these bites, for example, by using insect
repellent spray on your body, or mosquito netting around sleeping areas to prevent
mosquito’s access to people using the sleeping area.

Malaria should not be underestimated. For some people it might only become a mild illness,
but in some cases, especially if left untreated, it could lead to death.

Malaria can become an epidemic, as can be seen in some parts of Africa, where it kills
literally millions of people, including children. According to a study done by UNICEF
(United Nations Children’s Fund) the following was found: “Every year malaria, a parasitic
disease spread by the bite of a mosquito, results in 300 million to 500 million clinical cases,
and causes more than 1 million deaths. Mostly it is young children under the age of five in
sub-Saharan Africa who are affected, dying at the rate of nearly 3,000 every day”. This
includes Malawi, Mozambique, Benin and Tanzania.

This is very sad because malaria can be prevented, treated and cured. Due to lack of health
care in the above mentioned countries, malaria kills people even though it can be prevented.

Most illnesses reaching extreme proportions like this, occur because the population is poor
and do not have access to good quality health care services.

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A person suffering from Malaria will experience headaches, high temperatures, fever,
shivering, sweating, muscle aches, blindness, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. A person can
die, if the malaria germs reach the brain or kidneys. A person can suffer from the malaria
disease more than once, and even after recovery, they can still experience repeated fever
attacks for some time after, which may go on for years.

Symptoms of Malaria,
Source: Wikipedia Commons, Public Domain

The time between an infected mosquito bite and symptoms appearing (the incubation period)
can range between 10 days and a month.

If treatment is received, malaria can usually be cured in 2 weeks.

Without treatment death might be inevitable, especially in children who
are poorly nourished. Malaria can be diagnosed by a simple blood test.

A person suffering from malaria needs to get immediate medical help as

it is a life-threatening disease. There is currently no vaccine available for
malaria. Malaria is one of the leading causes of death world-wide.

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Mark Talks about Measles

Measles is an infectious viral illness. It is quite unpleasant

to have and can lead to blindness or death in severe cases.
Anyone can get measles if they have not been vaccinated.

What is a Vaccination?

Vaccinations help your body’s immune system to fight specific diseases. A vaccine usually
contains some of the germ of the disease, but not enough to do your body harm. This helps
your body to produce antibodies, which are proteins in your blood which act as soldiers to
fight off disease. These antibodies stay with you for a long time, so that if the real disease
enters your body, it will know how to fight it off properly.

Measles is most common in children, approximate ages 1 – 4 years old.

The measles virus can be found in tiny droplets, that come out of an infected person’s nose
and mouth, when they are sneezing or coughing. This virus can spread very easily.

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Measles symptoms can include:

 Cold-like symptoms
 Red eyes
 Sensitivity to light
 Greyish white spots in the mouth and throat
 A rash that appears a couple days after the person has
started to feel ill. The rash often starts behind a person’s
ears first and then spreads to the rest of the body.

There is no specific treatment for measles and is usually fought off by a person’s immune
system. Nonetheless, a person affected by measles can be helped to feel more comfortable by,
for example:

 Staying in a dark place to protect their eyes

 Using medication that will help relieve fever, aches and pains.

Once a person has fought off measles, the immune system develops resistance to it.

The best way to prevent measles is to be vaccinated against it as a child.

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Hope Talks about Diarrhoea and Cholera

Diarrhoea means passing loose, watery stools, more

frequently than normal. It can also be accompanied by
stomach cramps and fever. If it lasts for more than a couple
of days, it is very important to see a doctor, especially if there
is blood in the faeces.

Diarrhoea can be caused by viruses, bacteria and parasites

found in contaminated food or water.

Cholera is a disease where severe diarrhoea is a main symptom. Cholera often occurs in
poorer, developing countries where clean water and proper sanitation are not easily available.

Large volumes of water are secreted by the body through diarrhoea and vomiting which leads
to dehydration (meaning that the body loses too much water to be able to function).

Dehydration could lead to seizures and even kidney failure. If a person does not get proper
medical attention, where fluids that the body has lost are replaced, it could lead to death.

Cholera can be successfully treated if diagnosed early

enough.

People get cholera from eating food or drinking water

that has been contaminated by the faeces of someone who
has cholera.

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When infected by cholera, symptoms can appear in a few hours or up to 5 days later.

Symptoms include:

 Severe diarrhoea
 Vomiting
 Cramps
 Lack of energy
 Extreme thirst
 Dry, shrivelled skin

Rehydration is essential and sometimes antibiotics are needed.

A sugar and salt solution can be used to treat the symptoms of diarrhoea. It is very safe and
effective if prepared properly and given in sufficient volumes. It helps the sick person to
recover and prevents them from becoming dehydrated.

How to Prepare a Sugar and Salt Solution:

You will need:

- Sugar - Empty 750 ml bottle

- Salt - Cool boiled water
- Teaspoon - Kettle
- Measuring Jug

Method:

- Using the measuring jug, measure 750 ml of water, pour into the kettle and boil.
- Once boiled, pour the 750 ml of boiled water back into the measuring jug. Ask an adult
to help you when working with boiling water.
- Add 6 level teaspoons of sugar and half a teaspoon of salt to the 750 ml of boiled water.
- Stir the mixture thoroughly until all the sugar and salt dissolves.
- Now pour this mixture into your empty bottle and make sure the bottle is covered/closed
with its lid on at all times.
- You should not store the solution for more than 24 hours. Throw away the solution at the
end of 24 hours and make a new solution.

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If a person has diarrhoea, give the solution as often as possible. If the person vomits, wait for
10 minutes and then give the mixture again, more slowly and in smaller amounts. In
children, you may have to give a spoonful repeatedly until the child can take larger amounts.

The sugar and salt solution has saved many lives, all over the world, and most importantly it
has helped to save the lives of many babies with diarrhoea.

If the symptoms of diahorrea do not improve or other symptoms develop, medical advice
should be sought.

Evelyn talks about Tuberculosis (also called TB)

This is a disease that targets the lungs, although it can spread to

other organs as well.

When someone with untreated TB coughs or sneezes, the air is filled with droplets containing
the bacteria. Inhaling these infected droplets is how the disease is usually spread.

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The main symptoms of TB include:

 Persistent fever and sweating at night

 Fatigue
 Weight loss
 If the disease has reached the lungs, coughing up blood could occur

TB can be prevented by avoiding interaction with people with active TB. Sometimes the
illness is dormant, and the person does not even know they have TB.

TB is contagious via inhalation, which means it is contagious when it is airborne. Breathing

in the same air as a person with active TB could lead to infection.

The incubation period varies from weeks to years. It can be a chronic disease (persisting over
a long period of time) if not treated properly.

Treatment is also long-term and it is essential to complete the full course of medication even
if it takes long.

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