“Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir”: The Effect of Natural Disasters on Waterand Sanitation-related Infectious Diseases and the Increasing Need for Disaster Preparedness

Abstract

In a time when population is increasing faster than ever[1]and climate change is causing natural disasters increasingly often and extreme[2], it is now more pivotal to understand the complexities of the relationship between water and health. Lack of access to water and sanitation, and the prevalence of infectious disease severely detract from the quality of life and impede the progress of the developing world. Even the industrialized world, as we know it today, struggled with principles of sanitation and water systems for centuries, keeping them from reaching the modern definitions of development. With the natural disasters of the all-to-recent past, such as Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti these fragile water and sanitation systems are even further compromised.
[1] “World Population Growth”, 2004 [2] Greer et al, 2004