PUBH-100: Global Issues in Public Health
Environmental Health and Protection | Environmental Studies | Gender and Sexuality | Medicine and Health | Natural Resources and Conservation | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Place and Environment | Public Health | Social and Cultural Anthropology | Water Resource Management
Description, Abstract, or Artist's Statement
Water scarcity is an environmental global problem that will only become more pressing as time goes on. It is a public health issue that affects every continent, although certain areas of the world are facing more serious water scarcity than others such as Sudan. Populations that are more vulnerable to the effects of water scarcity are the poor, women, children, and those living in areas of political unrest. For example, South Sudan’s urban water systems have been damaged during recent warfare. Water scarcity is also an issue that disproportionately affects women who are forced from a young age to travel long distances and carry heavy buckets of water to provide for their families. This causes women to have low school attendance rates as well as chronic health problems from carrying such heavy containers for long periods of time in a harsh climate. In order to address the needs of the most vulnerable populations as well as keep women’s health intact and girls in school for longer, organizations such as the UN or the Sudan government itself has to provide more water outposts, build more boreholes, provide water sanitation kits, or provide reliable transportation to the existing outposts. Additionally, policy makers have to take responsibility over waters scarcity issues instead of private charities by installing strict laws regarding wasteful agricultural irrigation as well as working alongside experts in the field such as hydrologists and sociologists to create enduring solutions.
Augustana Digital Commons Citation
Priebe, Catherine. "Water Scarcity: Sudan" (2018). Global Issues in Public Health.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Environmental Health and Protection Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Medicine and Health Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Public Health Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Water Resource Management Commons