Study on Water quality & human health Around Lake Victoria

Abstract

Much has been achieved during LVEMP1 in terms of the countries’ understanding of the Lake Victoria ecosystem, but still there is a limited knowledge of the water quality in various parts (particularly bays) of the Lake and its relationship with human health in the area. The direct or indirect measures for improving the livelihood of the inhabitants living in the Lake Region are key goals of LVEMP2 and beyond. It was therefore important to get an overview of what is known about the relationship water quality - human health, and “to review the relationship between water quality and human health in the Lake region and the effects that various mitigation measures may have. The Consultant decided to make the Study as practical as possible, because the findings should hopefully lead to useful input for the planning of LVEMP2 activities to be more focused as regards the study aspects. The Study was thus not meant to be a scientific research or theoretical exercise, but rather trying to establish the water quality/human health relationship based on available data on which aspects seem to have the largest impact. The Study had a dual approach: a quantitative one (statistics and data for the last five years) and a qualitative one (interviews with stakeholders, field observations, etc.), focussing on the following waterborne/-related diseases: diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid, cholera, schistosomiasis (bilharzia), intestinal worms and skin infections. The water quality data from the lake largely came from LVEMP1 analysis, with relatively good data basis in Tanzania. In Kenya, however, such data were scanted and in Uganda virtually non-existent from the study areas.