ABSTRACT
Many factors contribute to the inadequacies in water and sanitation provision that are described in Chapter 1, and to the very serious implications that these have for health and well-being described in Chapter 2. These factors act at every level from the most local to the international. Figure 3.1 illustrates this by highlighting some of the factors that can contribute to contaminated water causing high levels of diarrhoeal disease in a squatter settlement, from the most immediate or ‘proximate’ cause (such as the inhabitants’ use of drinking water that is contaminated with human faeces) through various contributory causes (poor quality water and sanitation provision, in part because of the settlement’s illegal status) and underlying causes (weak and ineffective local government, lack of investment by national government and low priorities given to water and sanitation by many international agencies).
