SAQs
Now that you have completed this study session, you can assess how well you have achieved its Learning Outcomes by answering these questions.
Insert the words below into the table to match the headings.
- animals that live inside humans, usually in the intestines
- ascariasis
- bacteria
- infectious agents that invade cells
- malaria
- parasitic worms
- polio
- protozoa
- simple micro-organisms
- single-celled animals that live inside humans
- typhoid
- viruses.
| Pathogen type | What it is | One disease caused |
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| Pathogen type | What it is | One disease caused |
| Bacteria | Simple micro-organisms | Typhoid |
| Viruses | Infectious agents that invade cells | Polio |
| Protozoa | Single-celled animals that live inside humans | Malaria |
| Parasitic worms | Animals that live inside humans, usually in the intestines | Ascariasis |
Imagine that you are working with the mother of a two-year-old child. Use the F diagram (Figure 2.5) to give her some examples of how she could reduce the child’s exposure to faecal pathogens.
As well as ensuring the family is using water that is safe to drink, the focus should be on reducing the potential for the child to come into contact with faeces directly and indirectly. These barriers could include:
- ensuring all family members use a latrine. If the child is not old enough to use the latrine themselves, the mother or other carer should dispose of the child’s faeces in a latrine.
- ensuring all family members wash their hands at the appropriate times, especially before feeding the child. Teach the child to wash their own hands.
- not giving the child access to raw foods
- keeping food and wastes covered to reduce the problem of flies
- discouraging the child from picking things up in the street or off the floor
- discouraging the child from putting their fingers in their mouth.
How do good sanitation and waste management practices bring a positive effect to urban inhabitants? Give examples for effects on:
- health
- education
- economic conditions
- the environment.
- Effects on health: Good sanitation and waste management help to keep people separate from potential sources of pathogens. They reduce the risk of contaminating water supplies with pathogens and discourage the transmission of disease.
- Effects on education: Healthy children have fewer days off school through illness. When they are at school, healthy children learn better than sick children. Providing good sanitation facilities encourages children to attend school, particularly girls during their menstrual periods.
- Effects on economic conditions: The health benefits promoted by good sanitation and waste make for a more productive community. Less money is spent on healthcare and people lose fewer days off work through caring for the sick.
- Effects on the environment: Good sanitation and waste management means that there will be less faeces and waste deposited in public places and less pollution of the water and soil.