Ungertsur Telongjem Dimapur (UTD) organized sanitation awareness campaign sponsored by WSSO (PHED) at Lengrijan, near Immanuel College on Monday.
During the campaign, while sharing on sanitation, O.Ajungla Jamitsur said that safely disposing off excreta (faeces and urine), keeping oneself, house and surroundings clean should be a habit and way of life. She also explained on how poor sanitation could lead to diarrhea, eye and skin infections and could result in financial burden as well as deaths.
With a toilet and clean surroundings many harmful bacteria, viruses, helminthes can be kept away in order to protect ourselves from these deadly diseases, said Ajungla.
Elaborating on hand washing with soap, she said 80% of all diseases in developing countries were water and sanitation related. Hand washing with soap reduces diarrhoeal disease by 40% and respiratory diseases by 30% and she also informed that according to public health association only 53% of the people in India wash their hands after defecation, 38% wash hands before eating and only 33% wash their hands before preparing food.
She said “our” hands were in contact with millions of germs every day, unseen and yet lurking around invisible to the naked eye.
Speaking on solid and liquid wastes, Rongsenpokla Jamitsur said where human beings live waste was generated which was a big problem in towns and cities today.
She also informed that the estimated average quantity of solid waste generation in India is 50 to 100g/head/day in tribal areas while in urban areas it is 500 to 700g/head/day. She said indiscriminate disposal causes polluted soil, water, air and food and unpleasant to look at and it also depletes the environment.
She informed the gathering that plastic burning was a deadly poison where Tetrachloro Dibenzo Dioxin (TDD) was emitted. She said that dioxin was carcinogenic and hormone disruptor and persistent which accumulates in the body fat and thus mother give it directly to their babies through their placenta.
She also said burning of plastic could increase the risk of heart disease, aggravate respiratory ailments, heart disease, rashes, nausea, headache, damages in the nervous system, kidney, liver, reproductive and development system.
Earlier the campaign was chaired by UTD president, Tsuktikala while god’s blessing was invoked by S.Amenla. Vote of thanks was proposed by UTD general secretary, Masakala.