More Help is Needed!
Reasons or concern are easy to state. Over 43,000 per year dying from arsenic in the drinking water. Many more suffering from all kinds of afflictions due to arsenic. 20,000,000 people are still exposed to high levels of arsenic. The problem comes down hardest on the poor, those with the least education.
Testing for arsenic in drinking water. Much more of this is needed. Many areas have had no water testing for years because of lack of extension activity. The project we are working with provides this type of extension activity.
What is needed is education, testing of water, medical assistance, clean water. But there is very little of extension services for something like the arsenic problem in Bangladesh.
The work that is being done to help people on the ground has been described as a drop in the buck compared to the need that there is, especially in the southern part of the country. Because of lack of funding, few organizations are at work with the problem.
Jhohora Akhter, 30, of Iruain village, draws water from the family well, which is contaminated with arsenic. Jhohora’s mother Jahanara Begum died of arsenic-related health conditions. Her father suffers from diabetes, an illness associated with chronic arsenic exposure. Her brother Ruhul Amin also suffers arsenic-related health conditions. Photo: © 2016 Atish Saha for Human Rights Watch. Use provided by Creative Commons License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/legalcod