Sanitary environment for sanity
One of the most serious problematics that accompanies famine and poverty and is a leading cause of disease is lack of sanitation. This includes poor personal hygene, which is connected to the shortage of clean water and to resource crises, absence of political commitment to finding solutions, bad infrastructure, cultural factors, etc. We could argue that a sanitary environment is at least as important as having daily access to water and food, and while a healthy dose of bacteria is somewhat beneficial to humans in order to have a strong immune system, an overload of filth is certainly not something to aim for.
The unsanitary environmental conditions in India are said to be similiar to those of London in the 19h century. To improve this situation in many countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, we require newer strategies, governmental interventions and serious evaluations.
Firstly, the governments could enhance the capacity of the sanitation personnel and add free or affordable educational programs on practicing better hygiene among populations of rural and the so-called undeveloped parts of the world. In the Philippines' urban areas for instance, water quality doesn't even meet the standards set by the national government, thus the waterborne diseases are still taking their toll and the pollution is also severely affecting fishing and tourism. The government of the Philippines acknowledged the problem in 2004 and since then has been seeking to introduce a sustainable management of water resources .
From poor sanitation of water, food, and environment, arise epidemics and many other severe problems that effect the global population. We should definitely not take it as the norm for the impoverished countries of the world and keep acting as if it wasn't a big deal.
