Health Update

Since I had a few concerned emails regarding my post entitled ‘Beaver Fever’, I figured I would give you all a quick health update:

After round 2 of prescriptions, I am feeling back to normal. Thankfully. I have another appointment this week and hopefully my clean-bill-of-health will be confirmed. Hooray!!

In other health news: Im off to get the rabies vaccination prior to my India departure. After which I believe I will have received every possible travelling vaccination offered (from Hepatitis to Yellow Fever). Do I feel any safer? Marginally.

In mental health news: I feel like I’m going crazy. Here’s why:

-It’s exam time which means tons of exams to supervise and many drunk & disorderly students to tell-off (oh the glamour of being a sub dean)

-I’m in the process of applying for project approval which involves an ethics committee, 3 first-aid/safety courses, 6 applications, 2 risk assessments, 3 surveys, and 1 check list.

-I have a job interview in a week

-Im planning to trek to Everest Base camp (post India) which requires research and purchase of a tour, flights, high altitude travel insurance, and proper gear. I also need official permission from my College and Supervisor which will undoubtedly involve red tape and more paperwork.

-I am in on-going email war with my department over printer ink

-My best friend arrives from Canada in 6 days

-A very large group of friends arrive for their graduation ceremony this weekend

-I leave for Canada in 4 weeks

-I leave for India in 6 weeks

-And on top of all this, I have a PhD thesis to write!

Such is the life of a PhD student… Crazy, but good-crazy ;)

Lawn Theatre at Trinity College

I left work early last night to meet up with my good friend and fellow Albertan, Sarah, to watch the play entitled ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ on the Trinity College Lawns.

The play is a comedy by Irish author Oliver Goldsmith that was first performed in London in 1773.

To learn more about it, click here: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=68378

Memorable lines that I feel worthy of quoting:

“Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain, With grammar, and nonsense, and learning. Good liquor, I stoutly maintain, Gives genius a better discerning.”

The experience gets 5/5 stars in my book. The play was hilarious and well-acted. The evening was a little chilly, but luckily the college provided blankets and tea to keep the crowd warm. And Sarah’s company is always a pleasure… even if she is from Edmonton (wink wink)

Click here to read 'Calgary Reconsidered'

Indian Beaver Fever

For those of you more directly involved in my life, you may know that since returning from conducting research in India, I have not been entirely healthy…

Well, I finally know what the problem is (and how to treat it)!

Welcome to the world of Giardiasis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardiasis (More commonly known as Beaver Fever)

I have decided to share my awkward affliction with the world for 3 reasons:

1) I feel it’s somewhat humorous, from a Canadian point of view, that I have Beaver Fever

2) I think it’s ironic that while researching water filters, I contracted a water-borne parasite

3) Most importantly, what better platform to discuss the right and NEED of every human on the planet having access to a clean water supply

Some stats, if you will…

783 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in ten of the world’s population. (WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Report 2012 update)

1.4 million children die every year from preventable diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. This is equal to 160 school classrooms of children every day.
(WHO 2002)

Women in Africa and Asia often carry water on their heads weighing 20kg, the same as the average UK airport luggage allowance
(UNDP: Human Development Report, 2006: page 34-35)

1.1 billion people live more than a kilometre from their water source and use just five litres of unsafe water a day
(UNDP: Human Development Report, 2006: page 34-35)

The average person in the UK uses 150 litres of water a day. In Australia uses around 500 litres and in the USA, over 570 litres.
(UNDP: Human Development Report, 2006: page 34)

Water in Ghana costs three times as much as in New York.
(UNDP, 2006)

What am I doing to try to help this global problem?

(Where) In the Bengal Basin (India and Bangladesh) the surface water is ridden with bacteria-borne diseases (clearly) and the groundwater is contaminated by arsenic (naturally-occurring), a poison causing arsenicosis and often death.

(What) I am evaluating the degree of sustainability of various water filter technologies, rain water harvesting techniques and dug wells used in West Bengal, India.

(How) I am doing this by quantifying levels of economic viability, sociocultural appropriateness and environmental friendliness of the technologies, to help me create a sustainability index.

(Why) Creating a standardised system of ranking allows for meaningful comparison between technologies. This index will enable decision-makers to make more well-informed decisions during the technology implementation stages of development.

To learn more about arsenicosis, go here: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/arsenicosis/en/

This is an informed article about the arsenic case-study in India: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-31/india/30341372_1_arsenic-drinking-water-ground-water

Let me be the first to personally tell you that having Beaver Fever is terrible. I am a healthy person and this little parasite has stopped me dead in my tracks. It has prevented me from thinking clearly and from being productive with my work. Now imagine how much worse it would be if I was malnourished to begin with… If I didnt have running water to wash myself with… And no toilets, just a hole in the dirt (which actually ARE the conditions in the villages I visited). Imagine feeling weak, exhausted and nauseous (as I do right now) but having to carry 20kg of water on your head for 1 km, in 40 degree C heat. There are times when I feel like I can barely crawl to my ensuite bathroom across the room for a glass of water. How are these people to cope?

What can you do to help?

1) Take action by donating some cash to reputable NGOs working in communities with water issues. A dollar goes a very long way

2) Get informed on water issues in your local area. It’s likely there are some!

For example, in Alberta (my home province in Canada):

http://www.ualberta.ca/~ersc/water/intro1.htm

http://www.cbc.ca/blueprintalberta/ourwater.html

http://www.albertawater.com/index.php/water-facts-a-info/alberta-water-facts

3) Get informed on water issues generally and globally:

http://thewaterproject.org/water_stats.asp

http://water.org/water-crisis/water-facts/water/

http://www.who.int/topics/water/en/

4) Do a PhD researching something meaningful ;)