Abstract:
Mawanella, an expanding city, belongs to Kegalle district of Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka. Water supply and sanitation facilities in and around many cities have not been improved in par with the population increase and might have influenced the spread of water related diseases. A study was conducted in four Public Health Inspector (PHI) areas (Aluthnuwara, Ambulugala, Higula and Mawanella) from Mawanella MOH area in the wet zone mid country. The objectives of the study were to assess water supply, health and sanitation situation prevailing and to investigate the temporal variability of the spread of water related disease. Information on water supply, sanitation and water related disease incidents were collected from the PHI officers for the period 1997-2007. A number of different tools such as secondary health data collection, one-to-one discussions and questionnaire surveys were used to asses the overall water supply and sanitation of the PHI areas. Access to improved sanitation in urbanized Mawanella and semi-urbanized Aluthnuwara PHI areas show poor conditions compared to the national, provincial and district averages. Mawanella PHI area has 100% access to improved water sources while Higula has coverage above the national average of 84.7%. The PHI division Ambulawawa has only 21.8% of coverage with improved water supply. Mawanella PHI area has recorded the highest number of Dengue Fever (DF) and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) cases which could be due to improper solid waste disposal and availability of mosquito breeding sites within the urban environment. The water related disease that is most prevalent after dengue is dysentery. Mawanella recorded the highest number of dysentery cases followed by Aluthnuwara. Hingula reported the least number of dysentery patients that is reflected by the better sanitation coverage. Mawanella has recorded the highest cases of hepatitis and dysentery that is reflected by poor sanitation coverage or poor wastewater management in the area. Contrary to this, Ambulugala, a rural area without a dense population, recorded the least number of infected patients which could be due to the least opportunity of water sources contamination. The water related diseases studied are mostly concentrated within the South-West monsoon; second inter monsoon and a part of the North-East monsoon due to heavy rainfall incidents. DF and DHF show very high incidents during the North-East monsoon.
Page(s):
29-33
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Environ Monitor, Volume: 9, Issue: 11--12, Year: 2009