Environment
End poor housing
International Christian charity Habitat for Humanity is calling for urgent public support in improving housing conditions worldwide as the death toll through poor housing rises.
According to the World Health Organisation, inadequate housing is responsible for more than 100,000 annual deaths in Europe alone.
The health consequences of inadequate housing are substantial, with resultant conditions including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, physical injury, stress and depression, lung cancer, lead poisoning, infections, allergic symptoms and food poisoning.
Mark Collyns, fund-raising director for Habitat for Humanity, said, ‘One such case is a lady in Cambodia who features in our current appeal. She is HIV positive and living in a home that is infested with woodworm and on the brink of collapse, without access to clean water, sanitation or electricity.
‘When it rains the roof leaks and she gets wet and cold. In the rainy season she and her family catch dengue fever, and in the hot season they suffer from stomach complaints and diarrhoea. When she is ill she cannot work.
‘The home is absolutely vital to human development and it should be a safe, healthy place’.
