Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene May-June 2016 Vol. 11 No.3 | Page 35

Water & Health
The provision of drinking water and sanitation services in
health facilities is a top priority. Safe drinking water, basic
sanitation facilities and safe disposal of infectious wastes
will prevent the spread of disease and improve health
conditions.
In all cases, good hygiene practices are key to preventing
disease transmission. Water should be provided in
sufficient quantities to enable proper hygiene. Hands
should be washed immediately after defecation, after
handling babies’ faeces, before preparing food and before
eating.

issues like how to save water are so important.”
Lanes Group is currently working with students at the
University of Salford to design solutions for the biggest
issues in the wastewater industry, including the reduction
of water consumption and making toilets more efficient.

Health Promotion

Students waste more than two bathfuls of
water a day
The study of 18-24 year olds, commissioned by nationwide
drainage specialist Lanes Group, found that those currently
attending a university or college needlessly use an average
of 180 litres of water a day.
Students-waste-more-than-two-bathfuls-of-water-a-day.

© UNESCO

Students-waste-more-than-two-bathfuls-of-water-a-day.

Despite today’s students’ struggle to be seen as more
environmentally conscious than previous generations, as
well as scrimping to save money on utility bills, the results
of the study reveal a different story about their water usage
habits.
The most significant wastage came from needlessly leaving
taps running for an average of 15 minutes a day, wasting
90 litres per person, as well as spending nearly an hour and
a half in the shower over a week.
Meanwhile, unnecessary toilet flushes for items such as
tissues or cotton buds waste 20 litres a day per person.
Commenting on the findings, Michelle Ringland, head of
marketing at Lanes Group, said: “With more than three
quarters of students living away from home, it seems
that the freedom of living independently tends to negate
environmental responsibility.
“As a partner with water suppliers throughout the UK, we
know how much extra demand this wastage places on both
the wastewater drainage and clean water supply systems.
Even though many university halls of residence now
include water-saving devices, this doesn’t challenge young
people’s habits in privately rented accommodation.
“This is why projects like ours that work with students on

Health is defined in relation to the environmental and
human characteristics of people’s daily lives and the links
between them. Health includes the impact of human
activities on the health of individuals and groups, their
economy and their environment.
Hunger, malnutrition, malaria, water-borne diseases,
drug and alcohol abuse, violence and injury, unplanned
pregnancy, HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted
infections are just some of the problems that have
enormous implications for health.
Awareness and education are powerful ways to drive
behavioural change related to health:
• Health promotion is the process of enabling people
to increase control over and improve their health;
• The goal of universal education cannot be achieved
while the health needs of all remain unmet;
• Education should also enable people to learn to
live healthily in a world with HIV and AIDS and
other major widespread health risks;
• Policy, management and systems should provide
guidance, oversight, coordination, monitoring
and evaluation to ensure an effective, sustainable,
and institutionalized educational response to health
challenges;
• Education should enable learners to adopt caring
and supportive attitudes to others as well as
protective and health-seeking behaviours for
themselves.

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