What is sustainability?

Sustainability is the concept of meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Future generations should inherit from the present generation the environmental, social, economic and human resources that are required to sustain life as economic, social and biological beings.

Sustainability Any aid program is only sustainable if it can be maintained in the long term by the people it was intended to help. In order to decide if a program is sustainable we should consider the following points. Appropriateness Affordable Equity

Appropriateness Appropriateness: is the program appropriate for the people it is intended for? There are a number of ways you may consider if a program is appropriate: Is it sensitive to the culture of the people? If a program does not consider the culture of the people they may not accept it. Can it be easily maintained by the community once the aid organisation has moved on? Is the program important to the people? If the program is not of value to them they are less likely to invest in it.

Affordable Affordable: Can the people afford the program? This may be in terms of money, time, skills and other resources. This affordability needs to be built in for the long term.

Equity Equity: Is the program fair to all in the community? This is especially relevant to girls and women, as they are most vulnerable people in many developing countries. They often have lower status and are not involved in decision making. Women are generally the caretakers of the family, so it is therefore important to involve them to improve the health of the family in the long term.

Complete the following table Complete the following table. For each health issue: • list the cause of the issue • list the effect on human development • identify a sustainable program that could be introduced to counteract the problem. Health issue Cause Effect on human development Sustainable program undernourishment HIV/AIDs Diarrhoeal disease Dehydration Malaria