The poor hygienic conditions at home only worsen the situation. More than 200 community volunteers are being trained in hygiene and in the prevention of most common water-borne diseases, such as typhoid, dysentery and diarrhea. The bacteria have ample space to grow in the water tanks and people find it hard to get enough water for their daily needs. During Soviet times, public health focused on curing, and prevention was merely a word. But in the current economic situation, prevention remains the only feasible alternative for the poor.
Traditions can become a problem when water is scarce.
Our volunteers include medical personnel and local authorities as well as unemployed or farm workers. It has been easy to recruit volunteers, as time is one of the few commodities people have plenty of. Perhaps the biggest problem in both urban and rural Tajikistan is lack of employment, so people welcome the chance to take part in an activity with a purpose. He lives in the urban centre of Farkhor district together with his wife and six children. He tries to explain the mysteries of subsistence survival to the Red Crescent monitors who come to visit.