Poor outhouse management increases risk of infectious disease outbreak
- By Dulguun Bayarsaikhan -
- Apr 09,2016
- 1581
- 0
Intestinal infectious diseases rapidly increase when warm seasons begin because ices melt and cause floods. The fact that most families in ger area don’t have standard sewage borehole is the main cause of intestinal infectious diseases.In 2014, there were 1,704 reports of five types of intestinal infectious diseases, including hepatitis A, dysentery, salmonella infections and diarrheal diseases, in Mongolia. This is 394 more than the previous year. Around 71.3 percent of these diseases were dysentery and 1.6 percent were diarrheal diseases. Head of the Toxicology and Environmental Health Center of the Public Health Institute A.Enkhjargal was asked about the standard of outhouses in Mongolia. She said, “Outhouses, which are built for sanitary reasons, must have a ventilation and a seat or steps and must be built with sturdy materials that can be cleaned. It must have a light. It should be located near the home, but not where there’s a lot of wind or water. Outhouses need to be built on slightly higher ground to prevent precipitation from going into the pit latrine. In particular, it should be at least 15 meters away from their home and kitchen.” She advised cleaning the floor of outhouses with water or ash every day, leaving toilet seats uncovered, and checking the fly net every day to improve the hygiene of the outhouse. However, most families in ger areas have outhouses 10 within meters from their home. According to a research, eight out of 10 families in ger areas said that their outhouses don’t meet health and sanitary requirements and expressed their interest to change it. It was determined that seven out of 10 families don’t have lights in their outhouse and that it stinks and has flies swarming about. As soil pollution is increasing and causing various diseases, Head of the Early Warning and Response Unit of the National Research Center for Infectious Diseases N.Suvdmaa was asked about the current situation of intestinal infectious diseases in Ulaanbaatar. "Intestinal infectious diseases rapidly increase when warm seasons begin because ices melt and cause floods. The fact that most families in ger area don’t have standard sewage borehole is the main cause of intestinal infectious diseases. Around 90 percent of people infected with this type of disease are receiving consultation and related information. They receive medical treatment from home so no one has been admitted to a hospital at the moment. Overall, our unit is doing risk assessment and mapping as infectious diseases are expected to increase in the future. We’re cautioning the public to take preventive measures,” N.Suvdmaa said.
SHARE