Access to water quality and functioning sewerage system of internally displaced person's camps in NWFP

ABSTRACT

Environmental health survey was done on water and sanitation issues, at 43 Internally Displaced Person's Camps [IDP] of the NWFP province after 8[th] October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. To describe the challenges/situation faced by healthcare providers in providing safe drinking water and sanitation with the objective to restore these in the shortest time. Cross sectional observational survey was done of the IDP camps in NWFP from November, 2005 to April, 2006. A total of 43 camps were visited twice a week. All information was recorded in structured questionnaire, edited and analyzed through SPSS version 10. A total of 43 IDP camps were visited. Using WHO standards for assessment of quality of drinking water, it was found that water quality of 35 camps was satisfactory and of 07 was unsatisfactory while one of them had turbid appearance. Spring water was the main source of water supply in these camps. Twenty-one out of 43 camps had 485 flush latrines and 20 camps had 707 pit latrines. Out of 43 camps, 36 camps had specific latrines for women while others did not have specific latrines for women. Bath facilities were limited