This week, news portals reported that there was a case of cholera in the capital of Bahia in March of this year. Cholera is an acute bacterial disease that affects the intestines. It is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae and is transmitted by consuming contaminated water or food. Cholera is a highly contagious disease that can spread rapidly in areas with poor sanitation and limited access to drinking water.
A statement from El Salvador's Secretariat of Health and Environmental Surveillance said that the case was detected in a 60-year-old man who presented with abdominal discomfort and watery diarrhea in March 2024. The need to fight for SDG 6 is growing every day, and news like this is a real blow for exposing such harsh realities and social and economic inequality in Brazil.
News like this points to the fact that, unfortunately, there are still people in Brazil who do not have basic sanitation facilities or who pass through spaces like this. One point that confirms this view is the report by the newspaper Metrópoles, which tells the story of several Brazilians who experience the harsh reality of a lack of basic sanitation and how this affects the education of children from Oiapoque to Chuí.
SDG 6 and the fight against waterborne diseases
Waterborne diseases are those caused by drinking water contaminated by pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. These diseases can be transmitted through contact with water from contaminated sources, such as rivers, lakes, and wells, or by consuming food that has been washed or prepared with contaminated water. In addition to cholera, it can also cause other diseases such as typhoid fever, dysentery, and hepatitis A.
Waterborne diseases are a significant public health problem in many parts of the world, especially in areas with poor sanitation and limited access to drinking water. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 1 billion people do not have access to drinking water and more than 2 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation.
According to studies by the Trata Brasil Institute, the country treats only 52.2% of the wastewater produced, which is equivalent to dumping 5,200 swimming pools of untreated material into the environment every day. Of the basic sanitation indicators analyzed in the Sanitation Ranking 2024, wastewater treatment is the furthest from universal coverage and represents the biggest bottleneck that needs to be overcome.
According to Salvador's Department of Health and Environmental Surveillance, neither the person who contracted the disease nor those who came into contact with it have symptoms at the moment, but cases like this point to Brazil are still shown by a few, but experienced by many and is therefore synonymous with constant vigilance.
Anna Luísa Beserra
Founder, Sustainable Development and Water for All
LinkedIn: Anna Luisa Beserra
SDW: Sustainable Development and Water for All
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ODS 6
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