World Health Organisation (WHO)
Venue: Annex Building 03-04
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(a) Managing Zika
The Zika virus is a transmittable virus that is spread by a family of mosquitoes namely, Aedes mosquitoes. It was first discovered in 1947, originating from the Zika forest of Uganda. From 2007-2016 the virus spread eastwards across the Pacific Ocean to the Americas sparking the Zika virus epidemic. The effects of the Zika virus include rashes and mild fever however can be transmitted from mother to child leading to microcephaly (a medical condition affecting the growth of the brain) which can cause intellectual disability, poor motor function and other medical conditions in the baby. On rarer cases, it can lead to the Guillain–Barré syndrome in adults which can ultimately lead to paralysis. Zika is also counted as sexually transmitted disease, STD.
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The prominence of the Zika virus emerged nearing the Brazil Summer Olympics where the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the situation as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) whereby an estimated of 1.5 million cases have been reported worldwide as well as 3500 cases of microcephaly. Several countries also issued travel warnings in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus when travelling to Brazil and even to the extent of advising the citizens to delay pregnancy in areas where Zika is present.
What are the measures governments can take to raise Zika awareness and reduce the number of people infected with this virus?
What are the measures governments can take to increase the accessibility and portability of water? Especially for developing countries that suffer from the lack of clean drinking water or the lack of water in general. What are the consequences of not carrying out these measures?
What are some measures to solve economic water scarcity?
(b) Accessibility and Portability of Safe Water
The access to safe drinking water or water scarcity, often taken for granted by many, is a huge problem is many parts of the world. Water scarcity can be classified under two types, economic water scarcity as well as physical water scarcity. Economic water scarcity exists when a population does not have the necessary monetary means to utilize an adequate source of water while physical water scarcity refers to the limited access to physical water bodies (aquifers, lakes, etc.)
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There are as many as 783 million people do not have access to a safe source of water almost one tenth of the world’s population where the affected are mostly in developing countries especially in Africa and India. The complications of the lack of access to safe drinking water are many ranging from social factors to economic factors. Most importantly, the lack of access to safe drinking water contributes to the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera, dysentery, diarrhoea, etc. As a result, waterborne diseases are the leading cause of death in the world where as many as 2.2 million succumbs to it.
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They can be cured and prevented with the development of water infrastructure however such countries either lack the technical expertise, funding or the access to remote areas to carry out such projects.
What are some methods to solve physical water scarcity?