Healthcare Management Assignment EvaluatingWater Management Contractby BlåGulVatten AB
Question
Task:
Case study 1: Water management contract
Lack of access to clean water and sanitation is a major cause of illness and death globally. Water management is therefore a central public health question. There are many models in operation, including public private partnerships. A Swedish company ‘BlåGulVatten AB’ is in negotiations for a water management agreement with the City of Nairobi, Kenya. The agreement is being negotiated with the intention of improving water access in Kibera, which is a very large and poor area of the city with considerable water and sanitation problems and related ill-health. The company will be responsible for water infrastructure and billing. As part of the contract between the city and the company:
- The company will increase the number communal access taps.
- To help pay for the work and reduce waste, water pre-payment meters will be installed on the communal taps. Each household will be provided with a pre-payment card which must have a certain amount of credit to operate communal taps.
- 30 litres of water per day is permitted to each household for free.
Your task is to discuss the social and human rights aspects of this plan, and how these can be further studied.
Resources
Transnational Institute resources on water remunicipalisation https://www.tni.org/en/topic/water-justice (Links to an external site.)
Short clip about water access in Lagos, Nigeria (2014)
https://youtu.be/Tl1uypeJ9Ck
Consider the above case study and prepare a detailed report on healthcare management assignment addressing the following issues:
1. Locate this project in the WHO model for action on the social determinants of health (begin with figure B on p. 8 of Solar & Irwin)
2. Apply human rights to the case
• To what extent does the programme live up to the requirements of the right to health
• What other rights are involved, how
• What indicators could be used to measure the realisation of the relevant rights (choose one right)
o Where could this information be found, and what research methods could help
3. What needs to be taken into account, and what practical solutions might there be, if the principles of a human rights-based approach are taken into account
Answer
Introduction
The issue of water management as raised within this healthcare management assignment has become significantly important worldwide as access to clean and safe drinking water is identified as a social and Human Rights by the government authorities of a wide variety of countries and the United Nations. The relative importance of water management has significantly increased during the past few years, primarily due to the increasing number of health-related issues occurring from unsafe and dirty water consumption. This issue has been effectively identified within the World Health Organisation with its model of action on the social determinants of health. This issue is of significant importance in the health and safety of many individuals exposed to unsafe and dirty water. In the long run, it has serious health complications, putting significant stress over the Medical and health facilities of the respective country. Therefore, projects and contracts about water management are being supported by both National and International authorities to ensure that the social and human rights of people living in underdeveloped countries are effectively met in terms of economic and efficient supply of clean and safe water. Under this assignment, a detailed evaluation regarding the water management contracts initiated by BlåGulVatten AB is effectively discussed along with an evaluation regarding the human rights and social implication of the same.
1. Locate this project in the WHO model for action on the socialdeterminants of health Is this intervention at macro, meso or micro level Does it address stratification, exposure, vulnerabilities or consequences
The evaluation into the World Health Organisation model for action regarding social determinants of health effectively provides that water management is a significant issue. The consumption of unsafe and unhealthy drinking water creates a wide variety of health complications within developing and developed Nations. The report published by the World Health Organisation effectively identifies that in major underdeveloped areas of Africa, people face serious health complications primarily due to the consumption of unsafe and dirty water (Nguyenet al., 2019). The organization also identifies that the consumption of unsafe and dirty water creates significant stress over the health infrastructure that is incompetent towards catering to the needs of the patients. As a result, the number of deaths from water-related diseases such as dengue, diarrhea, hepatitis, cholera, and malnutrition is significantly increasing. Therefore, to effectively cater to this adverse situation, the World Health Organisation has effectively identified water management under its action towards social determinants of health.Furthermore,as a large population consumes water, it becomes essential for National and international holidays to effectively regulate its safety as it may have a wide social implication in the long run.
The intervention of the World Health Organisation in respect to water management can be effectively identified as an action at the Macro level. It is primarily focused on ensuring the economical and efficient availability of safe and clean water to a large population in a wide variety of economies suffering from water-related issues. It becomes essential for the World Health Organisation to actively participate in water management as it is a cause of social concern and has a significant impact on a wide variety of populations worldwide (Salam, 2020). The intervention of the World Health Organisation towards the actions of water management can be effectively identified to be an action that addresses the consequences arising from the consumption of unclean and unsafe water. It is also identified within the given case that through the effective public-private partnership, the Swedish company will negotiate with the city of Nairobi to effectively improve water quality and ensure favorable access to clean water in the city of Kibera. The primary purpose of water management is to avoidthe health consequences that arise from the consumption of unsafe and unclean water.
What does the SDH framework suggest needs to be taken into account in relation to this project/intervention The social health determinant Framework effectively suggests that it is essential for projects like water management to create favorable awareness within society regarding the adverse health complications and ensure that preventive measures towards water management are effectively implemented and used (Nazariet al., 2018). The Framework effectively suggests that it is essential to gain favorable support from government authorities regarding the development of social microeconomic, and health policies and create societal and cultural awareness. To effectively educate society and support the project most efficiently and economically, both the private and public stakeholders need to evaluate the social-economic position and identify the targets that need to be achieved from implementing the project. By effectively identifying the socioeconomic situation of the target group, favorable decisions regarding framing education policies and norms can be effectively developed and implemented (Zipperet al., 2020). The Framework also suggests that it is essential to effectively communicate the negative impact and health complications of consuming unsafe and unclean water to society and identify the psychological and biological factors directly and indirectly affected. It will help two words effective and favorable development of a health system capable of addressing the social and Human Rights issues about water management and ensuring safe and efficient availability of clean water.
2. Apply human rights to the case
To what extent does the programme live up to the requirements of the right to health
The evaluation into the program effectively provides that it completely meets the requirement of an individual's right to health. It primarily focuses on making available clean and safe water available to individuals within a specific geographical location who are deprived of clean and safe drinking water. Therefore, the program will effectively ensure that these individuals gain access to clean water, ultimately resulting in words minimizing the cases of water-related illnesses and death. Furthermore, it is the right of every individual to have access to clean and safe drinking water. Therefore, through the effective implementation of this program, the individuals in Kibera will have safe and clean access to water (Andersonet al., 2019).
What other rights are involved, how
The evaluation also provides that through the effective implementation of this program, the individuals' health and safety rights and personal rights within the locality will also be met to implement the water management program. It will lead to providing efficient access to clean water that will consecutively minimize health-related issues and maintain personal sanitation and hygiene.
What indicators could be used to measure the realisation of the relevant rights Furthermore, the program's implementation will also ensure an appropriate standard of living for the individuals within the society. It will provide a proper enhancement in health and safety and the creation of favorable societal awareness concerning the consumption of safe and clean drinking water.Lastly, to effectively measure the realization of the right to health, the local authorities can effectively compare the number of waters-related health complications reported within the society. Therefore, under the situation where the cases of water-related health communication have reduced post the program's implementation. It can be effectively concluded that the contract of water management has acted favorably towards adding value to our society and has also realized the purpose of ensuring favourable health within the society (Sun and Scanlon, 2019).
Where could this information be found, and what research methods could help
The information regarding which method of realization can be effectively found at the local hospitals and medical institutions created a wide variety of diseases and health complications. Furthermore, the qualitative research method can be effectively utilized to evaluate and measure data and information regarding the evaluation. It will provide a proper conclusion and in-depth analysis into the area of concern.
3. What needs to be taken into account, and what practical solutions mightthere be if the principles of a human rights-based approach are taken intoaccount
The primary factor that needs to be taken into account is testing the overall quality of water within the area before and after the program's implementation and evaluating results based on qualitative methods. It will provide appropriate information regarding the overall quality of water within the society and provide relevant information in respect to the value-added by the water management contract towards managing the overall quality of water and ensuring the delivery of safe and clean water. Furthermore, a practical solution for effectively implementing the project is to develop a public-private partnership and create social awareness within society regarding the benefits and health implications of consuming safe and clean water (Liu and Jensen, 2018). The society also needs to be educated regarding the benefits of consuming safe drinking water. Therefore, the qualitative research method can be effectively utilized to evaluate the needs of society and communicate favourable results and effective implementation and management of the project.
Conclusion
The report effectively communicates that it is essential for the World Health Organisation to ensure the availability of safe and clean water in both developing and developed nations and ensure favourable partnership of the public and private stakeholders towards initiating water management projects. With the help of effectively initiating projects in water management, there can be significant development within the society. The action will also contribute towards social and cultural development.
References
Anderson, E.P., Jackson, S., Tharme, R.E., Douglas, M., Flotemersch, J.E., Zwarteveen, M., Lokgariwar, C., Montoya, M., Wali, A., Tipa, G.T. and Jardine, T.D., 2019. Understanding rivers and their social relations: A critical step to advance environmental water management. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 6(6), p.e1381.
Liu, L. and Jensen, M.B., 2018. Green infrastructure for sustainable urban water management: Practices of five forerunner cities. Cities, 74, pp.126-133.
Nazari, B., Light, A., Akbari, M.R. and Keshavarz, M., 2018. Irrigation water management in Iran: Implications for water use efficiency improvement. Agricultural water management, 208, pp.7-18. Nguyen, T.T., Ngo, H.H., Guo, W., Wang, X.C., Ren, N., Li, G., Ding, J. and Liang, H., 2019. Implementation of a specific urban water management-Sponge City. Healthcare management assignmentScience of the Total Environment, 652, pp.147-162.
Salam, A., 2020. Internet of things in water management and treatment. In Internet of Things for Sustainable Community Development (pp. 273-298). Springer, Cham.
Sun, A.Y. and Scanlon, B.R., 2019. How can Big Data and machine learning benefit environment and water management: a survey of methods, applications, and future directions. Environmental Research Letters, 14(7), p.073001.
Zipper, S.C., Jaramillo, F., WangErlandsson, L., Cornell, S.E., Gleeson, T., Porkka, M., Häyhä, T., Crépin, A.S., Fetzer, I., Gerten, D. and Hoff, H., 2020. Integrating the water planetary boundary with water management from local to global scales. Earth's future, 8(2), p.e2019EF001377.