Workshop on Are we getting crowded, thirsty and sick? Urbanization, water management and human health 24 January 2013 Hotel Cambay Grand
Near PERD Centre,
Sola Over Bridge, Thaltej,
Ahmedabad - 380 054, Gujarat.
India is witnessing unprecedented urban growth. In 2011, nearly 30 percent of them were living in urban regions. Much of this increase is taking place in small and mid‐sized cities. By the 2030, the urban population is expected to reach 590 million. While these urban centers provide opportunities and services, they also concentrate risks and hazards for health. Only 30% of them have access to treated water supply. While one out of two Indians has access to sanitation facilities, it is only one out of 4 Indians has their toilets connected to sewerage networks. Thanks to the national and international agencies who take a short‐sighted approach to the drinking water and sanitation scenarios by going for ‘on‐site’ solutions rather than understanding the link between water supply, sanitation and sewerage connections. This is further worsened by the concentration of slum population, depicting pockets of extreme deprivation. Although current efforts to improve access to and quality of water resources are in place, policies facilitating economic growth are placing extensive pressure on the existing water systems, which is affecting the quantity and quality of water and placing human health at risk in urban regions. The water‐ transmitted diseases are exacerbated by poor living conditions in cities and small towns. Diarrhea, malaria, dengue, jaundice, cholera and gastroenteritis are widely reported in many of the urban centers, compounded with a number of non‐communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, cancers, asthma and heart disease. These are the result of complex interaction of various determinants of health – “causes of the causes” of ill‐health. Its effect on the human health varies depending on the socio‐economic, demographic, contextual characteristics of the individual, which in turn is shaped by broader socio‐political, economic and ecological forces. The workshop takes a comprehensive perspective to the growing water supply and sanitation crisis affecting human health and the growing health inequality in Ahmedabad city. The workshop is organized as part of the research project ‘Water Resources Institutions and Human Health in Ahmedabad city’ funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany. It will draw on the findings from this project to unravel these complexities. It takes a systematic perspective to explore the following questions: 1. To what extent rapid urbanization translates improved drinking water and sanitation for betterment of human health? 2. To what extent the current water supply and sewerage networks influence human health in selected wards? 3. What are the diverse sets of factors influencing health risk among the households? 4. How does various factors confound in influencing the health risk? 5. What strategies do they adopt to overcome their ill‐health? Session Organizers: ZEF: IIPH‐G: V.S.Saravanan Dr. Deepak Saxena, Senior Researchers, Professor, Center for Development Research, Indian Institute of Public Health‐ Gandhinagar University of Bonn Sardar Patel Institute Campus, Drive‐in‐Road, Thaltej, Walter Flex Straß3 4, Ahmedabad 380 054, India D‐53129 Bonn, Germany Email: ddeepak72@iiphg.org Email: s.saravanan@uni‐bonn.de