It Sucks Drinking Dirty Water

Although many worldwide efforts have been made to help minimize the outbreak of preventable diseases, few have succeeded. Oftentimes only practical measures are necessary so that common health issues may be avoided in developing countries. Among the many factors associated with avertable epidemics, impure water supplies have been the most devastating. Commonly spawned from this dilemma are the potentially fatal illnesses such as typhoid, cholera, malaria and dysentery.  The recent development of a health device called LifeStraw may prove to be the most reliable counteraction to all waterborne diseases. 

Consuming unsafe water spreads eighty percent of all disease in developing countries. LifeStraw, a personal pipe-style water treatment device, makes dirty water safe to drink. It contains PuroTech Disinfecting Resin (PDR)- a patented, extraordinarily effective material that kills on contact. Textile pre-filers are used in the LifeStraw to remove particles up to 15 microns. Active carbon withholds particles such as parasites (Hanlon). Although this device is technologically complex it is considerably functional being that it is both user-friendly and effortlessly upheld.  For about the period of year it can be used without spare parts, electricity or maintenance. Safe water for the needy can now be made easily accessible by the use of the mobile purification tool LifeStraw (LifeStraw).

Waterborne infectious diseases are holding back poverty reduction and economic growth in some of the world’s poorest countries (UNDP). Survivors of the many waterborne diseases are often too weak to work and burdened by overwhelming doctor’s bills. The fact that the LifeStraw is a low-cost tool definitely adds to its complaisance. Vestergaard Frandsen, creator of the astounding device, has managed to produce this product at a price that people in this business find hard to believe, but he believed it had to achieve a price affordable to the Third World consumer. The cost of production is only about US$5 and one straw provides nearly 700 liters of clean drinking water (M2 Presswire). LifeStraw safe water interventions respectively have the potential to promote economic gain by reducing healthcare expenses and increased productivity.

Millions of women and young girls are forced to spend hours of each day collecting and carrying water, restricting their opportunities and their choices. In addition to ongoing inequality issues there is a lost of about 443 million school days each year from water-related illnesses (Shah). LifeStraw could possibly allow these families and more the chance to take part in the more critical customs in life as with education or compensated labor.

Beyond the household, competition for water as a productive resource is intensifying. Symptoms of that competition include the collapse of water-based ecological systems, declining river flows and large-scale groundwater depletion. Conflicts over water are intensifying within countries, with the rural poor losing out. The potential for tensions between countries is also growing, though there are large potential human development gains from increased cooperation. Moreover there isn’t an adequate amount of progress being made towards the development of safe water systems. The global distribution of the LifeStraw can not only contribute to poverty reduction, but also help to increase childhood survival, school attendance, gender equality and environment sustainability.

LifeStraw’s development is simply a remarkable advancement in modern health aide, as only 90% of current innovation is geared toward the target group of wealthy individuals in the developed world, while only 10% is focused on the developing world. Throughout history water has confronted humanity with some of its greatest challenges. Water is a source of life and a natural resource that sustains our environments and supports livelihoods – but it is also a source of risk and vulnerability. The product LifeStraw can do much more than the original concept and positive test results that have been achieved on tap, turbid and saline water against common waterborne bacteria. If we are to save the millions of helpless lives dying of water-related diseases across third world countries, it is only plausible to begin by distributing LifeStraw globally.