Public health is a major challenge in Mumbai due to the city's large population and poor infrastructure. Key issues include lack of sanitation and proper disposal of medical waste, garbage, and sewage. During monsoons, stagnant rainwater leads to increased disease. Public health could be improved by addressing water pollution, unhygienic street food, lack of sanitation, and improper garbage disposal through measures such as upgrading infrastructure, increasing healthcare access, educating citizens, and enforcing hygiene regulations.

1. PUBLIC HEALTH IN MUMBAIPUBLIC HEALTH IN MUMBAI

2. •Known as the ‘City of Dreams’
•India’s financial, fashion and film capital (‘Bollywood’)
•Population in 2014 – Approx 12.5 million
•One of the most crowded and polluted cities in the world
MUMBAI….
The seamier side of Mumbai

3. Providing healthcare in Mumbai is a financial and logistical
nightmare:
•Population of sick/disabled people is staggering for any Government to
deal with
•Government-funded hospitals are themselves unhygienic
•Lack of qualified medical staff – doctors, nurses, doulas, hygienists
•Improper disposal of medical waste – extremely dangerous!
•Negligible recycling of garbage by households
MUMBAI HEALTHCARE
•Negligible recycling of garbage by households
•Thousands of tonnes of garbage are generated everyday which are not
disposed off properly
And most importantly-
•Most people are careless about their health!!
Everyone loves street food, not everyone bothers to
boil/filter drinking water and wading through rain water is
a pleasurable activity!
The poor frequently defecate in the open

4. POOR HEALTH IS DUE TO…
Water pollution Rainwater stagnation
Untreated, improperly disposed
garbage
Unhygienic street food
Unsafe drinking water
Defecation in the open
(no image) ☺

5. WATER POLLUTION
Major problem – LACK OF BASIC CIVIC SENSE
Most Mumbaikars treat water bodies – including the Arabian Sea – as their personal
dustbin
Another problem – CLEAN-UP EFFORTS
Projects are repeatedly undertaken and then abandoned to clean up rivers and lakes
Issues – lack of accountability and corruption (no surprise!)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Eight-firms-pitch-for-Mithi-river-
clean-up/articleshow/1422017.cmsclean-up/articleshow/1422017.cms
Yet another problem – FESTIVALS
The Ganesh festival in August/Festival ends with
‘Visarjan’, which involves immersion of Ganesh idols
in water bodies like lakes, rivers and the Arabian Sea
SOLUTION: Over the past 5 years or so, volunteers
have been working with Municipal clean-up marshals
to clear water bodies of refuse when the festival ends

6. UNHYGIENIC STREET FOOD
Mumbai has a wonderful street food culture
Westerners who think vegetarian food is only pasta, kale and quinoa should come to
Mumbai to sample some of our delicious vegetarian food!
Mumbai serves everything from Indian to Chinese, Lebanese to Mexican, American to
Italian!
However, hygiene is a major problem-
•Cooks rarely wear gloves while handling food
•Plates and other utensils are not cleaned properly•Plates and other utensils are not cleaned properly
•Ingredients used are not always high-quality, ex, oil and spices
•Street food is rarely covered
•The Monsoon season (June-August) brings with it a host of diseases like diarrhoea and
malaria, and street food is the most common route of contracting these diseases
I once heard a joke about Mumbai’s monsoon:
The only safe thing to consume in Mumbai during the monsoon is a cup of hot tea! ☺
(since tea includes boiled water)

7. UNHYGIENIC STREET FOOD contd…

8. RAINWATER STAGNATION
•Mumbai’s underground drainage system is over a 100 years old – a leftover of the ‘British
Raj’
•Upgrades require money and accountability – the former is available but the latter is
sadly lacking
•Monsoons usually arrive in June and stay till August or early September
•Heavy rains in these 3 months put immense pressure on the drainage system, which
frequently overflows
• Result – water-logging and floods• Result – water-logging and floods
•The low-lying parts of Mumbai are most affected
•Potholed roads Potholed + flooded roads!
•Even sturdy BEST (public) buses struggle to navigate through the floods
•The floods of July 2005 were memorable and truly horrific. Here’s a good article about
it: http://www.ndtv.com/photos/news/26july-2005-the-day-mumbai-stopped-11000
Is there a bright spot?
You bet! Kids have the time of their lives in the monsoon season! ☺

9. RAINWATER STAGNATION contd…

10. GARBAGE
Problems
•More garbage is generated than disposed, posing a major health hazard
•Disposal methods are unscientific, haphazard and slip-shod
•Mountains of garbage = MASSIVE EYESORE!
•Almost no recycling by households
Possible solutions
•A comprehensive plan to deal with the tonnes of garbage generated•A comprehensive plan to deal with the tonnes of garbage generated
daily
•Systematic pick-up and disposal methods
•Education about reusing and recycling
•Instill civic sense in citizens so they don’t treat their city like a personal
dustbin!
•Cut graft and red tape in Mumbai’s Municipal Corporation(BMC) and
increase pay and benefits of clean-up marshals
•Involve citizen groups to tackle the menace area-wise

11. GARBAGE contd….

12. WHAT MUMBAI DESPERATELY NEEDS
Cleaner water
I still hold high hopes that someday I’ll be able to drink water straight out of a tap!
☺
Better controls over licences handed over to street food vendors and cafes
Eliminate corruption and graft
Strict hygiene checks and controls
Remove/rehabilitate illegal (‘licence-less’) vendors or bring them into the legal
ambit
Complete overhaul of the drainage systemComplete overhaul of the drainage system
More scientific methods of garbage treatment/recycling/disposal
More healthcare professionals, lower healthcare costs and more public toilets!!
Better roads – potholes make floods worse and lead to more accidents and injuries
More involvement of NGOs and charities in educating people, especially children,
about the dangers of consuming untreated water and unhygienic street food
Government subsidies on medicines for monsoon-related illnesses and preventive
tools like mosquito nets

13. REFERENCES
http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01127/28IN_RAIN_1127341f.jpg
RAINWATER STAGNATION
http://labsaints.com/wp-content/uploads/images86.jpg OPEN STREET FOOD
http://static.financialexpress.com/pic/uploadedImages/bigImages/B_Id_446078.jpg
OPEN STREET FOOD 2
http://cupidspeaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/indian-street-food.jpg OPEN
STREET FOOD3
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NSFulUliP_g/UKiS1Y9mEbI/AAAAAAAAA1I/N7oU-
KgJJac/s1600/4058507404_8b7eb2e439.jpg OPEN STREET FOOD4
http://cdn2.getyourguide.com/img/tour_img-75871-48.jpg STREET FOOD5http://cdn2.getyourguide.com/img/tour_img-75871-48.jpg STREET FOOD5
http://foodnightlifeblog.buzzintown.com/files/2012/10/Mumbai-street-food.jpg
STREET FOOD6
http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/885/885,1263492345,4/stock-
photo-an-handsome-indian-kid-looking-very-sick-44490781.jpg SICK CHILD
http://www.indiawaterportal.org/sites/indiawaterportal.org/files/drinking%20water.j
pg UNSAFE DRINKING WATER
http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01117/HY19_P3_RAIN_1117742f.jpg
KIDS RAIN
http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01226/03VZVISKCITYREG2RA_12263
09f.jpg RAIN CAR

14. REFERENCES contd…
http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/aug/Best-bus-in-water.jpg BEST
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NsvFqay4GXs/TRcXeo4Xn8I/AAAAAAAABhI/uBZD2l8Hx
hU/s640/10-most-polluted-cities-in-the-world05.jpg DIRTY NULLAH IN BASTI
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-duLwCK1tXC0/TbWwcIU7-
nI/AAAAAAAAAms/UqxlKH62pDM/s1600/10-most-polluted-cities-in-the-
world02.jpg WATER POLLUTION
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-
CR136snpWCA/UGseIJdH_CI/AAAAAAAABdQ/6Rpa27IvXEQ/s1600/GV-6.JPG
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/ganesh-immersion-water-pollution-21752732.jpg
http://www.whiteindianhousewife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_3128sm.jpghttp://www.whiteindianhousewife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_3128sm.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tdLFGHTy9ic/UNWClS-
pB0I/AAAAAAAAAso/czDYSMNSyPs/s1600/DSC00226.JPG GANPATI2
http://media.newindianexpress.com/article597164.ece/alternates/w620/m2.jpg
http://images.jagran.com/mumbai_10_6_13.jpg FLOOD2
http://static.ibnlive.in.com/ibnlive/pix/sitepix/07_2013/delhirain_traffic_pti2.jpg
http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01127/28IN_RAIN_1127341f.jpg
Lecture notes and videos from Week 5

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