Disaster risk from diarrhoeal diseases and WASH in South Africa and Botswana in MDG time

Abstract

South Africa and Botswana are middle-income countries in the southern part of the African continent. They are also the two of the most developed countries in the region, where socio-economic situation is better than in many other parts of the African continent. The progression of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in these two countries can be seen as the setting stage for the disaster risk management understanding in the African region in the 21st century. This is done in this article for disaster risk management and waterborne diseases or water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) conditions in Botswana and South Africa. The authors used an open-source on the mortality in children under 5 to develop a proxy indicator for disaster risk from WASH. This dependent variable is correlated with the access to improved water and sanitation sources or facilities, and the expected lifespan at birth of the South African population. The latter indicators are used as independent variables in correlations, and they are seen as expressions of vulnerability determinants in the WASH context in South Africa and Botswana. Results indicate that the strongest prevention of the death rates from the WASH-related diseases comes from the overall status of the healthcare system in Botswana and South Africa. Socio-economic parameter played limited to no role in the determination of the diarrhoeal disease disaster risk in both the studied countries.

Contribution: Access to improved drinking water sources and improved sanitation facilities played a partial role as a controlling factor in determining the WASH-related death rates. The overall functioning of the healthcare system is the most dominant factor in the disaster risk from WASH in South Africa and Botswana.

Keywords: WASH vulnerability; access; diarrhoeal diseases; improved sanitation; improved water; socio-economic vulnerability.

FIGURE 1

Years of life lost because of premature mortality from morbidities from communicable, maternal, perinatal, or nutrition causes in South Africa from 2008 until 2014.

FIGURE 2

The mortality from diarrhoea in children under 5 years of age as a percentage of all diarrhoea-related hospitalisation in South Africa from 2008 until 2015.