Environmental health issues across nations are strikingly similar!

Environmental health issues cross nations!

‘An estimated one in 10 Indigenous Americans lack access to safe tap water or basic sanitation – without which a host of health conditions including Covid-19, diabetes, and gastrointestinal disease are more likely.”

Many residents experience a lack of indoor pipes for running water and sanitation; ‘Plumbing Poverty’

A recent news article by The Guardian illustrates the striking similarities in the environmental health issues Indigenous Americans and Indigenous Australians face. It states among the most affected by water issues are 30 tribes within the Colorado River Basin (CRB), where “Several CRB tribes suffer from plumbing poverty, including 30% to 40% of all Navajo Nation residents, who are 67 times more likely than other Americans to live without running water.”

Although Indigenous housing throughout Australia may have plumbing connected, as the Housing for Health data shows, due to a lack of cyclical repairs and maintenance, its level of functionality often remains low and hence safe water and basic sanitation is compromised.

Healthabitat ran a Housing for Health program with The International Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Foundation (IWISH), DigDeep and the Baca/Prewitt Chapter in the Navajo Nation in October 2018.

To find out more about the survey results and what the data collection told for the houses in this project, see past blog – ‘FINAL REPORT Community Plumbing Challenge: Navajo Nation’.