Clean Water Projects to better health for any population :) (part of my Build a Bonfire article collection)

I've often given time and energy towards charity groups ensuring the health and well-being of populations at risk of disease. One thing I did stop doing is giving support to charities that have large scale immunisation schedules for these at risk populations. While I agree that there is a case for immunisation, I want it to be far, far less risky than at present for me to actually be a part of giving this kind of medical support to at risk communities.
But what's the alternative? How can we be of service to the global community and be responsible advocates of good health choices if we put our time, effort and money towards agendas that can potentially be harmful to the people we are hoping to help?

I did a little research on this a while ago and found myself at the World Health Organisation website...take a look at what I found...

"Vaccination has greatly reduced the burden of infectious diseases. Only clean water, also considered to be a basic human right, performs better..." WHO

This article from the WHO is just mind-blowing in its implications that the vaccine risks are getting 'better press' than the vaccine benefits... honestly never read such a load of cleverly veiled confessions of inadequacy... ;}

If today, for some awful reason, you and I were pressured by cirucumstance to enter a refugee camp, undergo weeks of trauma, nutrional deprivation, clean water deprivation and subsquent illness...would the first thing you want from a medical assitance operative be a shot in the arm full of potentially toxic chemical and biological soup? or perhaps you'd prefer them to spend some money on security, nutrition, sanitation and a clean water source...? Yeah ;[ ...and this is a very obscure ending to any 'argument' piece...

"We conclude that a comprehensive vaccination programme is a cornerstone of good public health and will reduce inequities and poverty."

(http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/2/07-040089/en)

Good clean water and food, plus effective and maintained sanitation systems, including good public health opportunities, is the way to good public health, and will have nothing to do with percieved social inequities including poverty. Its not just communities affected by war, political upheaval, drought, floods, or some other traumatic event, sometimes its just a community that has for some reason gradually lost their water supply due to intensive agriculture, or global climate change over the last three to five decades. Sometimes communities can be re-invigorated by spending less time and effort in the collection of water for daily survival. 'Charity:Water' are one organisation dedicated to this particular outline of service.

"Diseases from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren't strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses.

90% of the 30,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions are in children under five years old. The WHO reports that over 3.6% of the global disease burden can be prevented simply by improving water supply, sanitation, and hygiene."

Learn about how to give a sustainable gift of clean water to a needy community somewhere in the world right now... http://www.charitywater.org/whywater/
I don't get anything from supporting them except the satisfaction that my monetary assistance is being put to great use for a simple commodity that I take for granted in my country. Its also a commodity that ensures that with good nutrition I can help to keep my family disease free and living a life full of infinite potential.



At my home I've changed the way I use water. Since the introduction of flouridated water in my municipal supply I changed to drinking and cooking using pure spring water.  Then I've been able to find a flouride filter and can now enjoy the tap water without a load of chemicals in it, plus the filter also gets out other nasties that communities at risk deal with all the time. It again makes me grateful for the place I live in ;) I have access to help and products that other women looking after their babies do not have. And I think this is where I feel the need to assist. Feeling empathy for that mother somewhere in the world who is just simply wanting to care for her family, and she has this overwhelming challenge to overcome,...yet I can walk down my hallway and turn a tap on in my kitchen. It hits me in the heart for these families, and it takes so little to be a part of the solution! :)

Be aware that the environment of your biology, both internal and external, plays a part in the overall Harmony your life can emit and receive <3 Blessings!