Colombia

Storing water due to future and unforeseen cuts in the supply, Barranquilla and its metropolitan area

Prevention campaign against Dengue and Chikungunya. Southwest Barranquilla.

Self-built drainage channel. Evaristo Sourdis, Barranquilla.

Arroyo (flash-flooding). Barranquilla. 1982, local press archives.

Arroyo peligroso (beware of dangerous flash-flooding). Traffic sign. Barranquilla.

Proposal to build a municipality for violently displaced populations of the Caribbean. 1997, local press archives.

“Our water bills are too expensive”: protest against water prices. Barranquilla, metropolitan area.

In late 2015, the Colombian Institute of Health reported 341 positive cases of the Zika Virus Disease in some of the country’s northern municipalities. In less than a year the Zika Virus Disease epidemic grew, spreading in the southeast of the country to affect a total of 99,721 people (Brodzinsky, 2016). Besides Zika, chikungunya and dengue (also transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito) are common in the peripheral zones of the warmer, coastal cities. All these diseases crystallize in specific social conditions, in particular infrastructural contexts. Routines of rainwater harvesting and potable water storage foster the mosquito’s breeding. Growing metropolitan areas which lack water and drainage infrastructure are particularly vulnerable to the disease (Nading, 2012, 2014).

–

No final de 2015, o Instituto Colombiano de Saúde relatou 341 casos positivos da doença do vírus Zika em alguns dos municípios do Norte do país. Em menos de um ano, a epidemia do vírus Zika cresceu, espalhando-se no sudeste do país que afectou um total de 99.721 pessoas (Brodzinsky, 2016). Além de Zika, chikungunya e dengue (também transmitida pelo mosquito Aedes aegypti) são comuns nas zonas periféricas das cidades costeiras mais quentes. Todas estas doenças cristalizam em condições sociais específicas, em contextos de infraestrutura específicos. As rotinas de colheita de água da chuva e armazenamento de água potável promovem a criação do mosquito. As áreas metropolitanas crescentes que carecem de infra-estrutura de água e drenagem são particularmente vulneráveis à doença (Nading, 2012, 2014).

References

Brodzinsky, S. (2016, July, 25). Colombia declares end to Zika epidemic as spread of virus levels off. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/25/colombia-declares-end-to-zika-epidemic

Nading, A. M. (2012). DENGUE MOSQUITOES ARE SINGLE MOTHERS: Biopolitics Meets Ecological Aesthetics in NicaraguanCommunity Health Work. Cultural Anthropology, 27(4), 572–596.

Nading, A. M. (2014). Mosquito Trails: Ecology, Health, and the Politics of Entanglement. Berkeley: University of California Press.