Prevalence of chronic kidney ailments has increased over the years in India, especially in women and children. Most women get jitters if they have to use public toilets as they harbour plenty of germs causing UTI, E. coli, diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, dysentery, cold, throat infection. Not just dirty toilet seats, door handles and faucets are also potent germ carriers in public bathrooms. They are full of bacteria that can cause respiratory and diarrheal illnesses. Subsequently, children are often instructed by their parents to avoid going to public toilets for the fear of contracting diseases.
Even in 21st century, lack of proper public toilets is still a raging issue in India, particularly for women and children who are more prone to getting infected. Due to lack of such adequate facility, women and children often give in to less and insufficient fluid consumption so that they can evade urination. The habit of holding pee leads to grave consequences like severe urinary infections, bacterial infections that affect the urinary tract. This occurs due to the germs present in urine that have been sitting too long in the bladder.
Apart from the renal failure, there can be various other critical consequences like long term bowel and bladder abnormalities. The other relatively lesser hazards span from development of LUTD (lower urinary tract dysfunction), constipation, voiding difficulty and UTI (urinary tract infection). Apart from short term illness, UTI can cause long term sequelae like kidney scars. The primary cause for such problems can be classifies as the following:
• Improper diet which does not include sufficient intake of fruits and green vegetables
• Insufficient fluid consumption
• Inadequate water consumption. The ideal range is consuming 1.5 litres of water every day for children while women must have minimum 3 litres
• Holding urine is even more dangerous than not passing it
Recurrent UTI
• Despite using these measures, almost 30-40% women suffer from recurrent episodes of UTI
• 2 episodes in 6 months or 3 episodes in a year
• Quite common in sexually active females
• Women are more prone to infection of urinary tract
• Women have short urethra which allow bacteria quick access to the bladder
Preventive measures for reducing recurrent UTI
• Adequate fluid intake
• Ingestion of cranberry juice or pills
• Intake of yogurt
• Avoiding constipation
• Use toilet sanitizers and disposable toilet covers while using public toilet
• Prefer Indian style toilet while using public toilet
• Try to empty the bladder every 4 hours
‘Her Toilet Needs’ – A survey on women’s toilet habits
Recently CK Birla Hospitals – CMRI unearthed the result of their special survey titled ‘Her Toilet Needs’ on Women’s Day. The elaborate survey revealed some shocking statistics of toilet usage pattern among the women and young girls in Kolkata. The hospital conducted an organic online survey with a sample size of 1456 and age from 10 to 60 years; girls and women who were either students or working and spend majority of their time outside of home. The survey comprised an online questionnaire which was filled and submitted by them. The following findings are the eye opener results from the survey:
39% women declare that the toilets available to them on daily basis are dirty while 27.3% remain neutral and 33.7% have access to clean toilets
50.6% women state that they are uncomfortable using the available toilets whereas 28.2% are comfortable and 21.2 % are neutral about them
35.6% women drink less than 500ml water, 36.1% consume between 500ml to 1000ml and 17.9% drink more than 1000ml. Astonishingly, 10.4% women completely avoid drinking
Shockingly, 52.3% completely dodge using toilets
42.5% women reveal that they have suffered from UTI in the past
52.46% women find public toilet facilities to be highly inadequate
Since avoidance of urination will only lead to more serious consequence, women and children should be better equipped in their practice of using public toilets safely. Dr. Manjari Chatterjee, CK Birla Hospital – Calcutta Medical Research Institute( CMRI) Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, recommends the following :
• Flush every time before you use the toilet
• Use toilet papers to touch faucets, door knobs or covering a toilet seat
• Avoid placing your phone, bags on the shelf or floor. Instead, hang it on the hook on the back of the door
• Dispose used toilet papers, sanitary pads, wet wipes etc. in the designated dustbin
• Flush thoroughly after you use the toilet
• Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with an anti-bacterial hand-wash
• Always keep sanitizer and wet wipes handy
• Never hesitate to report about a dirty toilet to the management
Commenting on the above findings, Dr. Susmita Banerjee, CK Birla Hospital – Calcutta Medical Research Institute( CMRI) Department of Paediatrics said, “Learning to use toilet is a fundamental skill that every child must learn at a young age. Most importantly, it is necessary to remember that disregarding toilet urges will lead to long term bowel and bladder abnormalities. While using a dirty toilet is not an option, ensuring healthy habits of addressing toilet urges whenever possible should be taught to children.”
- Dr. Manjari Chatterjee, CK Birla Hospital – Calcutta Medical Research Institute( CMRI) Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
- Dr. Susmita Banerjee, CK Birla Hospital – Calcutta Medical Research Institute( CMRI) Department of Paediatrics
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Photograph by- নিজস্ব প্রতিনিধি
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