 | | Pharmacist Madani Coulibaly helps Dr. Martin Koné, health director, to clean equipment that has been used to treat a patient at Talo Health Centre, in the municipality of Falo, Mali. Photo © WaterAid/Basile Ouedraogo |
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| The front lines in the battle to limit damage from the new coronavirus are expanding.
Now, the virus is spreading in poorer regions — in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and parts of Latin America — where essential defensive measures against infectious disease are often missing.
Healthcare facilities in low- and middle-income countries are a potential weak link in the fight against Covid-19, health experts say. Hospitals and clinics in countries like Nepal and Tanzania often lack handwashing stations, proper waste disposal, hygienic equipment, and even running water. |
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 | | A handwashing station at an orphanage in Hyderabad, India. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue |
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| In tweets and business tweaks, the world is relearning that clean hands are a first line of defense against disease and infection.
Amid the global coronavirus pandemic, handwashing and hygiene are swelling in urgency and support, even though the message being delivered is not new. |
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 | | Tents line the sidewalks of the Skid Row area near downtown Los Angeles. Due to the coronavirus, cities are installing additional handwashing stations in areas with a large number of residents experiencing homelessness. Photo courtesy of Flickr/Creative Commons user Russ Loar |
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| Governments at all levels are beginning to review water access policies and inequalities that inhibit public and personal efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Those policies include restoring water service to homes where water had been disconnected, suspending new water shutoffs, and installing public handwashing stations to serve residents who are experiencing homelessness. |
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For years, Venezuela’s healthcare system has veered toward collapse. Water, medicine, protective equipment, and other essentials have been in short supply. As the country reports its first coronavirus cases, experts fear the nation could be an ideal breeding ground for the disease. |
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What's Up With Water - March 16, 2020
For the news you need to start the week, tune into “What’s Up With Water” fresh on Monday’s on iTunes, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and SoundCloud.
This week's episode features coverage on the United Kingdom, where government authorities have said they will double their spending on flood defenses in the next spending cycle.
For news in the United States, dozens of cities will continue to provide water services to households that had been scheduled to be disconnected. Additional coverage looks at how the U.S. government is telling cities to evict people from flood-prone homes using the power of eminent domain, according to the New York Times.
Finally, this week's featured Circle of Blue report looks at the efforts in one California community along San Francisco Bay to control flooding and prepare for rising seas. You can listen to the latest edition of What's Up With Water, as well as all past editions, by downloading the podcasts on iTunes, following Circle of Blue on Spotify, following on iHeart Radio, and subscribing on SoundCloud. |
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| From Circle of Blue's Archives: |
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 | | A child sits next to an undocumented water well in Delhi. Children are among the most vulnerable to illness and disease related to climate change. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue |
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| More people exposed to wildfires. Water temperatures that are more conducive to the growth of Vibrio bacteria, which are responsible for cholera and other debilitating ailments. Droughts that decimate crop yields, leading to inadequate childhood nutrition and stunted growth.
On a warming planet these and other health and disease risks are growing more severe, according to an international, multi-agency assessment of the health effects of climate change. |
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