Impact of water quality on water related diseases; a case study in the Kalmunai RDHS Area

Abstract

The quality of drinking-water is a powerful environmental determinant of health. Southeastern region largely depends on groundwater for its day to day activities. However, after the 2004 December tsunami, many areas within the region were provided with potable water, in order to prevent any potential water related diseases, due to contaminated groundwater sources. Part of this study aims to determine the trend and prevalence of water related diseases after 2004 tsunami within the Kalmunai RDHS area. Secondary data on water related diseases, between 2005 and 2011, was obtained from Kalmunai RDHS office and respective MOH offices. Water related diseases like, viral hepatitis (from 330 to 6), enteric fever (from 42 to 10) and malaria (from 12 to 0) are seems to be decreasing while dysentery (from 105 to 631) and dengue (from 39 to 664/84) are on the increasing.