Abstract
Tribal people living in hilly areas suffer from water scarcity in many parts of the world, including India. Water scarcity adversely impacts all aspects of life, including public health. Implementation of an Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) can help solve the problems arising out of water scarcity in such areas. However, the knowledge about and views of the water scarcity sufferers on the public health implications of IWMP have not been well documented. This cross-sectional study was performed in six purposively selected tribal villages located in Maharashtra, India. In three of the villages IWMP had been implemented (IWMV), but not in the other three (NWMV). The head of each household in all villages was interviewed using a questionnaire covering various public health aspects relevant to the villages. A total of 286/313 (92%) households participated in the study. Compared to NWMV, respondents in IWMV experienced significantly lesser prolonged water scarcity (OR = 0.39), had greater number of toilets (OR = 6.95), cultivated more variety of crops (OR = 2.61), had lower migration (OR = 0.59), higher number of girls continuing education (OR = 3.04) and better utilized modern healthcare facilities in the antenatal, natal and postnatal period (OR = 3.75, 2.57, 4.88 respectively). Thus, tribal people in IWMP-implemented villages reported advantages in many aspects of public health.
Highlights
Around 1.2 billion people are affected by water scarcity and it is estimated that by 2025, this number will increase by 600 million more people [1]
Among the 27 households, where interviews could not be conducted, a majority (n = 24) of the houses were found closed, while three households did not agree to participate in the study
There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of participating households (IWMV—93% vs. NWMV—91%, p = 0.354) or in the characteristics of household heads that participated in the study from IWMV (n = 142) or NWMV (n = 144)
Summary
Around 1.2 billion people are affected by water scarcity and it is estimated that by 2025, this number will increase by 600 million more people [1]. Lack of water adversely impacts hygiene and sanitation practices [2]. Poor hygiene and sanitation lead to repeated epidemics of water-borne diseases [3]. In arid parts of the world, women have to spend significant productive time and efforts to collect water for daily needs [4]. Scarcity of water for agriculture, reduces crop diversity and agricultural output, reduces income which in turn leads to secondary health impacts, such as malnutrition and reduced cognitive function in children [2]. This was recently recognized of importance by Bill and Melinda Gates
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