PTSD

So, why isn't dirty water a national security issue?

The Guardian reports on how "In the next 24 hours diarrhoea caused by unclean water and poor sanitation will claim the lives of 4,000 children."

24 hours. I doubt there'll be a TV show on this though.

The news story adds, "Dirty water poses a greater threat to human life than war or terrorism. Yet it barely registers on the radar of public debate in rich countries."

Umm...that's because diarrhoea is so unsexy. Not like dead birds or terrorists. One can't deploy one's economic and military might against diarrohea, for heaven's sake. The US' reputation would be ruined. Unless, somehow, diarrhoea could be turned into a communicable disease that is likely to affect security. Then, there could be a National Strategy to combat the diarrhoea pandemic with dirty water as the enemy.

Some more: "The statistics behind the crisis make for grim reading. In the midst of an increasingly prosperous global economy, 2.6 billion people still have no access to even the most rudimentary latrine. Over one billion have no source of drinking water."

Yes, well. If yous visit Nepal and leave Kathmandu to go elsewhere, I'd recommend going "into the bushes" rather than using a "rudimentary latrine". Horror films could be made about RLs and the contents therein. Some folks probably enter RLs never to be seen again. Actually, Dr. Who's TARDIS always rather reminded me of a RL. Maybe unused/retired British Telecom telephone booths go to make RLs in other countries.

And: "Over 90% lack access to a latrine [in a slum visited by Weisz's character in the film The Constant Gardener], giving rise to a phenomenon that didn't figure in the movie: the "flying toilet". Lacking any alternative, people defecate into plastic bags that are thrown into the street, with terrifying consequences for public health."


I'd have liked to have seen that. Just in the film. Not in Reality.

posted by Priya @ 1:21 AM