Water Access in Asia region

Public Health Issue
University
Unit
Name
Tutor
Date

2
Water Access in Asia region
Part 1
Introduction
Water access affects an estimate of more than 40.5 billion people around the world, a
figure expected to rise as the global temperature increases due to climate change despite an
estimate of 2.1 billion people have access to clean and safe hygiene sanitation. Since the year
1990, there is a decreasing supply of safe water for drinking impacting all continents. In the
year 2011, an estimate of 41 countries globally was experiencing acute water stress with 10
of them are almost depleting their renewable sources. The increase in drought and
desertification are worsening the trends. It is projected that in the year 2050, it is estimated
that at least one in four people will be affected by perennial water shortages (WHO, 2014).
Ensuring universal access to safe water and affordable drinking water access by 2030
requires adequate infrastructure, access to sanitation facilities and hygiene practices in all
levels.
Trends in Asia indicate that nearly 1.8 billion lack proper access to sanitation and about
700 million lack accesses to potable water. Countries in East Asia and the Pacifica make
steady improvements in expanding access to water and improved sanitation practices (Price et
al., 2014). Various countries in this region have gained middle-income status while
undergoing rapid economic changes. Since 1990, there have been changes in the proportion
of people access to water and proper sanitation which has risen from current 49% to 79%
however this still leaves behind a huge number of people not having access .access to
improved and safe has increased but still n estimate of 130 million lacking access to safe
water (WHO, 2015).
DPSEEA Framework
Assessment of Middle East Region access to water is assessed using the DPSEEA
framework developed by the World Health Organization. Its adoption is key and relevant
since it links the environmental factors in relation to the exposure to health effects and
actions. Further, the extension of the driving forces and representation of contextual factors
are essential in analyzing the Middle East and Asia region.
The framework views health impacts as the origin of the driving forces towards access

3
to clean water entering pressures on the environment in the form of production, consumption
and waste generation to water sources and the effects on environments. These factors
eventually affect the state of access to water and sanitation (Dick, Smith, Banin, & Reis,
2014).
Driving forces, pressure, state changes, exposures and effects
The Asia region is a dynamic continent currently experiencing rapid urbanization,
industrialization, economic growth and extensive development in agriculture. Even though
there positive driving forces, the existence of other rivers which have an effect on the overall
capacity to meet the needs of water.
The current growth in population and rural migration has a significant effect on overall
water needs. These are the driving forces in major megacities with the existence of the fastest
growing cities between the year 2010-2025. The rise in the economic development is
surpassing 5%, with agriculture taking the largest share of 80% of total renewable energy
however it faces also challenges of food shortages in the degraded ecosystems. Further
irrigation sector has faced numerous insufficiencies in places where they exist. In this way,
water quality suffers immensely from the activities of industrial development, agricultural
and urbanization intensification (Gentry-Shields & Bartram, 2014).
Presence of water conflicts in the region has dominated for a long period with an
estimate of 120,000 related disputes being reported in China. Efforts on the management of
water and resources in India have often focused on conflict management between different
states. Often direct conflicts occur between management in different states. Conflicts arise
due to the allocation of scarce resources. The eventual effects entail a rise in climate change
and natural hazards have continued to rock Asia region which often undermines economic
development to various levels. Increased variation in climate and difficulty weather
conditions affects severely the region affecting water access. These health effects of water
scarcity lead to many hazardous occurrences such as a rise in disease related to sanitation
challenges issues, ailments and even causing the overall turnover effect of causing mortality
and increase in morbidity (Kjellstrom & McMichael, 2013).