In the northern part of the state of Jalisco, and some states in the west of Mexico, resides an indigenous community known as Wixárica or Huicholes. Such community faces several deficiencies, one of them is the lack of water. Which leads to severe gastrointestinal infections and parasitosis that affect the entire population, especially children and elderly people.
Due to the constant lack of water in the Wixárica region, it is not possible to have the necessary hygiene habits, which causes the appearance and development of diseases, since today 45% of huicholes show gastrointestinal infections and intestinal parasitosis.
Intestinal parasitosis is a disease from the digestive system that is caused by the ingestion of protozoan cysts, worms or through the skin (transcutaneous). It is associated to the poor sanitary conditions in the community.
Diarrhoeal diseases and intestinal parasitosis still represent a public health problem where overcrowding, the lack of drinking water and the lack of sewers have caused a permanent decrease in the population’s health, which gets worse day after day in highly marginalized regions such as the Wixarica indigenous region. Unfortunately, gastrointestinal diseases are increasing greatly due to the housing, hygiene and education conditions, which are extremely poor; this situation shows and demands the promotion of health in the region, otherwise it will have a severe impact in the sanitary problems described above.
We can point that the poor quality and access to drinking water in the community leads to an increase in the incidence rates of some gastrointestinal diseases, such as parasitosis and acute diarrhea.
