Waste recycling to help fight Haiti's cholera epidemic
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 - 12:29:28
Cholera is a serious disease which is spread when water supplies become contaminated by human waste, so it is not uncommon in developing countries, where sewage infrastructures are not on par with those in wealthy nations like the UK.
In 2011 Haiti was the most direly affected nation in terms of cholera, with 58 per cent of all global cases of the disease occurring within its population, according to Resource.com.
As well as being easy to spread, cholera is also very deadly and thousands of people die in Haiti as a result of its impact each year.
In order to attempt to lower the number of infections and deaths in Haiti, a not for profit organisation called SOIL is looking to recycling for answers.
SOIL is a group which is able to take human waste and recycle it so that it can be reused as fertiliser. This means agriculture in problem areas can be improved and the likelihood of waste being left to contaminate water supplies is reduced.
At the moment much of the human waste in Haiti is simply dumped into rivers or the sea, completely untreated, even if it is passed through sewage systems where available. This means that there are obvious contamination issues that need to be addressed if the epidemic levels of cholera are to be reduced.
The waste which SOIL collects is composted for half a year, the process of which removes the harmful elements that cause diseases like cholera. It is then ready to be passed on to the agricultural industry, where it can actually do some good and help feed the population.
The growth of SOIL's operation in Haiti has made it the country's largest waste treatment organisation and it has bold plans for future expansion.
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