Organización EL SHADDAI CHARITY

WHAT WE DO

Disease/Sickness in Africa

Politics, drought, disease and poverty push Africa into starvation. Many poverty generated deadly diseases have caused the death of millions in these areas. Children and adults are dying daily due to water related diseases that could have been prevented. A lot of disease could be contracted when people consume water that is contaminated. Lack of fresh water is causing an out break of diseases like cholera, diarrhea, typhoid and other water borne diseases in these poorest communities of Africa.

Guinea worm is contracted when people consume water contaminated by fleas carrying infective larvae. Yellow fever and malaria are serious mosquito borne diseases that can be fatal, they occur only in Sub-Saharan Africa and certain tropical areas of South America. Cholera can be transmitted not only by contaminated water, but also through food. Social phenomenon such as mass migrations may play a greater role in the transmission of diseases. Water borne disease such as river blindness (onchocerciasis) is caused by bacteria living inside the worm that carries it. When an infected black fly that live near fast moving rivers bites a human, the worm larvae burrow into the skin, where they mature. The worms then send out tiny offspring that travel through the skin to the eye. When the offspring die, the person’s immune system attacks the worms, which leads to inflammation in the eye and, eventually, blindness. This disease is the leading cause of blindness.

Elephantiasis (lymphatic filariasis) is an infection that causes massive swelling of the leg or in men, the scrotum. The parasitic worms such as Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, etc. which infects and blocks the lymphatic system, is transmitted by mosquito bites. The common link for all these diseases is water, whether directly through drinking or bathing or indirectly as a breeding ground for these parasites. Most rural communities get their drinking water from contaminated rivers, streams or pond. Other ways through which diseases could be contracted is by living in a dirty and polluted environment. Living in a dirty environment where indiscriminate refuse dump is causing a dramatic increase in air pollution and the stench of rotting trash is almost unbearable. Refuse is piled high, pigs play in pens of thick black mud, street ooze with offensive odour that chokes our lungs and affects our breathing. Environmental health education is important to keep our children away from diseases.

In this Organization, we are applying the concept of community health care program that can reduce the major causes of mortality with emphasis through preventive care against these diseases, provision of portable water and medical supplies to clinics and leprosy home.