Download or read book Environmental Public Health Impacts of Disasters written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-06-13 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public health officials have the traditional responsibilities of protecting the food supply, safeguarding against communicable disease, and ensuring safe and healthful conditions for the population. Beyond this, public health today is challenged in a way that it has never been before. Starting with the 9/11 terrorist attacks, public health officers have had to spend significant amounts of time addressing the threat of terrorism to human health. Hurricane Katrina was an unprecedented disaster for the United States. During the first weeks, the enormity of the event and the sheer response needs for public health became apparent. The tragic loss of human life overshadowed the ongoing social and economic disruption in a region that was already economically depressed. Hurricane Katrina reemphasized to the public and to policy makers the importance of addressing long-term needs after a disaster. On October 20, 2005, the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine held a workshop which convened members of the scientific community to highlight the status of the recovery effort, consider the ongoing challenges in the midst of a disaster, and facilitate scientific dialogue about the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on people's health. Environmental Public Health Impacts of Disasters: Hurricane Katrina is the summary of this workshop. This report will inform the public health, first responder, and scientific communities on how the affected community can be helped in both the midterm and the near future. In addition, the report can provide guidance on how to use the information gathered about environmental health during a disaster to prepare for future events.

Download or read book U S Health in International Perspective written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-04-12 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.

Download or read book Environmental Health Literacy written by Symma Finn and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-09-12 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores various and distinct aspects of environmental health literacy (EHL) from the perspective of investigators working in this emerging field and their community partners in research. Chapters aim to distinguish EHL from health literacy and environmental health education in order to classify it as a unique field with its own purposes and outcomes. Contributions in this book represent the key aspects of communication, dissemination and implementation, and social scientific research related to environmental health sciences and the range of expertise and interest in EHL. Readers will learn about the conceptual framework and underlying philosophical tenets of EHL, and its relation to health literacy and communications research. Special attention is given to topics like dissemination and implementation of culturally relevant environmental risk messaging, and promotion of EHL through visual technologies. Authoritative entries by experts also focus on important approaches to advancing EHL through community-engaged research and by engaging teachers and students at an early age through developing innovative STEM curriculum. The significance of theater is highlighted by describing the use of an interactive theater experience as an approach that enables community residents to express themselves in non-verbal ways.

Download or read book Core Questions on Drinking water and Sanitation for Household Surveys written by World Health Organization and published by . This book was released on 2006-05-24 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Safe water and adequate sanitation are basic to the health of every person on the planet yet many people throughout the world do not have access to these fundamental needs. An important step towards resolving this global crisis is to understand its magnitude: how many people lack access to drinking water and sanitation? To help answer this question household surveys and censuses are conducted every year throughout the world to assess drinking water sanitation and hygiene-related practices at the household level. Because of variations in survey tools attempts to compare the results of one survey with those of another have been fraught with diffi culties. Solving survey comparability problems is crucial if we are to establish accurate trends over time within a country and compare data between countries. For this reason the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation developed a set of harmonized survey questions that resolves the comparability problems of the past. Including the harmonized questions in national surveys and censuses will help countries gain more systematic information on the drinking water and sanitation needs of thei population. With popular use these harmonized questions will make data across international and national survey programmes more comparable which in turn will result in more accurate country regional and global estimates of unmet drinking water and sanitation needs. The core harmonized questions presented in this guide have been adopted by the Demographic and Health Surveys the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey and the World Health Survey. The purpose of this guide is to encourage even more widespread use of these harmonized questions because accurate information is a valuable tool that can be used to assess progress towards international and national goals and targets. It also allows decision-makers and stakeholders to make evidence-based choices and direct efforts to where they are needed as well as promotes increased investment in the sector.

Download or read book The Relevance of Hygiene to Health in Developing Countries written by Natasha Potgieter and published by Intechopen. This book was released on 2019 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are 17 comprehensive and detailed Sustainable Development Goals, which are all interlinked. Although access to water, sanitation, and hygiene is a human right, billions of people in developing countries are still faced with daily challenges accessing even the most basic of services, specifically the poor and vulnerable in communities. Hygiene is an important aspect for women/girls to access the economic, educational, and social opportunities they deserve. Proper hygiene removes disease as a barrier for equality, economic growth, and more. The role of hygiene in water, sanitation, and infections must be addressed from both scientific and social perspectives. This book provides the reader with an analysis of hygiene behaviors and practices and provides evidence-based examples in a number of developing countries.

Download or read book Safe Management of Wastes from Health care Activities written by Yves Chartier and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2014 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the second edition of the WHO handbook on the safe, sustainable and affordable management of health-care waste--commonly known as "the Blue Book". The original Blue Book was a comprehensive publication used widely in health-care centers and government agencies to assist in the adoption of national guidance. It also provided support to committed medical directors and managers to make improvements and presented practical information on waste-management techniques for medical staff and waste workers. It has been more than ten years since the first edition of the Blue Book. During the intervening period, the requirements on generators of health-care wastes have evolved and new methods have become available. Consequently, WHO recognized that it was an appropriate time to update the original text. The purpose of the second edition is to expand and update the practical information in the original Blue Book. The new Blue Book is designed to continue to be a source of impartial health-care information and guidance on safe waste-management practices. The editors' intention has been to keep the best of the original publication and supplement it with the latest relevant information. The audience for the Blue Book has expanded. Initially, the publication was intended for those directly involved in the creation and handling of health-care wastes: medical staff, health-care facility directors, ancillary health workers, infection-control officers and waste workers. This is no longer the situation. A wider range of people and organizations now have an active interest in the safe management of health-care wastes: regulators, policy-makers, development organizations, voluntary groups, environmental bodies, environmental health practitioners, advisers, researchers and students. They should also find the new Blue Book of benefit to their activities. Chapters 2 and 3 explain the various types of waste produced from health-care facilities, their typical characteristics and the hazards these wastes pose to patients, staff and the general environment. Chapters 4 and 5 introduce the guiding regulatory principles for developing local or national approaches to tackling health-care waste management and transposing these into practical plans for regions and individual health-care facilities. Specific methods and technologies are described for waste minimization, segregation and treatment of health-care wastes in Chapters 6, 7 and 8. These chapters introduce the basic features of each technology and the operational and environmental characteristics required to be achieved, followed by information on the potential advantages and disadvantages of each system. To reflect concerns about the difficulties of handling health-care wastewaters, Chapter 9 is an expanded chapter with new guidance on the various sources of wastewater and wastewater treatment options for places not connected to central sewerage systems. Further chapters address issues on economics (Chapter 10), occupational safety (Chapter 11), hygiene and infection control (Chapter 12), and staff training and public awareness (Chapter 13). A wider range of information has been incorporated into this edition of the Blue Book, with the addition of two new chapters on health-care waste management in emergencies (Chapter 14) and an overview of the emerging issues of pandemics, drug-resistant pathogens, climate change and technology advances in medical techniques that will have to be accommodated by health-care waste systems in the future (Chapter 15).

Download or read book Water Reuse written by Chris Binnie and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2008-05-14 with total page 649 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Water Reuse: An International Survey of current practice, issues and needs examines water reuse practices around the world from different perspectives. The objective is to show how differently wastewater reuse is conceived and practised around the world as well as to present the varied needs and possibilities for reusing wastewater. In the first section water reuse practices around the world are described for regions having common water availability, reuse needs and social aspects. The second section refers to the “stakeholders” point of view. Each reuse purpose demands different water quality, not only to protect health and the environment but also to fulfil the requirements of the specific reuse. Reuses considered are agricultural, urban agriculture as a special case of the former, municipal and industrial. Alongside these uses, the indirect reuse for human consumption through aquifer recharge is also discussed. The third section deals with emerging and controversial topics. Ethical and economical dilemmas in the field are presented as a subject not frequently addressed in this field. The role of governments in respect of public policy in reuse is discussed as well as the different international criteria and standards for reusing wastewater. The importance of public acceptance and the way to properly handle it is also considered. The fourth section of the book presents contrasting case studies; typical situations in the developed world (Japan and Germany) are compared to those in developing countries (Pakistan and Brazil) for agricultural and industrial reuse. Indirect planned reuse for human consumption (Germany) is compared with an unplanned one (Mexico). The Windhoek, Namibia case study is presented to emphasize why if the direct reuse of wastewater for human consumption has been performed with success for more than 35 years it is still the only example of this type around the world. To illustrate the difficulties of having a common framework for regulating water reuse in several countries, the Mediterranean situation is described. Other case studies presented refer to the reuse situation in Israel, Spain, Cameroon, Nepal and Vietnam, these latter countries being located in water rich areas. This book will be an invaluable information source for all those concerned with water reuse including water utility managers, wastewater policy makers and water resources planners as well as researchers and students in environmental engineering, water resources planning and sanitary engineering. Scientific and Technical Report No. 20

Download or read book Environmental Epidemiology Volume 1 written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1991-01-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The amount of hazardous waste in the United States has been estimated at 275 million metric tons in licensed sites alone. Is the health of Americans at risk from exposure to this toxic material? This volume, the first of several on environmental epidemiology, reviews the available evidence and makes recommendations for filling gaps in data and improving health assessments. The book explores: Whether researchers can infer health hazards from available data. The results of substantial state and federal programs on hazardous waste dangers. The book presents the results of studies of hazardous wastes in the air, water, soil, and food and examines the potential of biological markers in health risk assessment. The data and recommendations in this volume will be of immediate use to toxicologists, environmental health professionals, epidemiologists, and other biologists.

Download or read book Surveying Climate Relevant Behavior written by Markus Hadler and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-11-12 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book discusses the contribution of sociology and survey research to climate research. The authors address the questions of which behaviors are of climate relevance, who is engaging in these behaviors, in which contexts do these behaviors occur, and which individual perceptions and values are related to them. Utilizing survey research, the book focuses on the measurement of climate-relevant behaviors with population surveys and develops an instrument that allows a valid estimate of an individual’s GHG emissions with a few core items. While the development of these instruments was based on surveys and qualitative interviews conducted in Austria, the instruments were subsequently tested in a set of 31 European countries, revealing the international relevance of such research. The book also concludes with a brief consideration of the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on environmental attitudes, situating the project globally.

Download or read book Analyzing Health Equity Using Household Survey Data written by Adam Wagstaff and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007-11-02 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have gaps in health outcomes between the poor and better off grown? Are they larger in one country than another? Are health sector subsidies more equally distributed in some countries than others? Are health care payments more progressive in one health care financing system than another? What are catastrophic payments and how can they be measured? How far do health care payments impoverish households? Answering questions such as these requires quantitative analysis. This in turn depends on a clear understanding of how to measure key variables in the analysis, such as health outcomes, health expenditures, need, and living standards. It also requires set quantitative methods for measuring inequality and inequity, progressivity, catastrophic expenditures, poverty impact, and so on. This book provides an overview of the key issues that arise in the measurement of health variables and living standards, outlines and explains essential tools and methods for distributional analysis, and, using worked examples, shows how these tools and methods can be applied in the health sector. The book seeks to provide the reader with both a solid grasp of the principles underpinning distributional analysis, while at the same time offering hands-on guidance on how to move from principles to practice.

Download or read book Non transient Non community Water Systems written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Global Issues in Water Sanitation and Health written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2009-10-25 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the human population grows-tripling in the past century while, simultaneously, quadrupling its demand for water-Earth's finite freshwater supplies are increasingly strained, and also increasingly contaminated by domestic, agricultural, and industrial wastes. Today, approximately one-third of the world's population lives in areas with scarce water resources. Nearly one billion people currently lack access to an adequate water supply, and more than twice as many lack access to basic sanitation services. It is projected that by 2025 water scarcity will affect nearly two-thirds of all people on the planet. Recognizing that water availability, water quality, and sanitation are fundamental issues underlying infectious disease emergence and spread, the Institute of Medicine held a two-day public workshop, summarized in this volume. Through invited presentations and discussions, participants explored global and local connections between water, sanitation, and health; the spectrum of water-related disease transmission processes as they inform intervention design; lessons learned from water-related disease outbreaks; vulnerabilities in water and sanitation infrastructure in both industrialized and developing countries; and opportunities to improve water and sanitation infrastructure so as to reduce the risk of water-related infectious disease.

Download or read book Water Quality written by World Health Organization and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2001-07 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The quality of water, whether it is used for drinking, irrigation or recreational purposes, is significant for health in both developing and developed countries worldwide. This book is based on a programme of work undertaken by an international group of experts during 1999-2001. The aim was to develop a harmonised framework of effective and affordable guidelines and standards to improve the risk assessment and management of water-related microbial hazards. This book will be useful to all those concerned with issues relating to microbial water quality and health, including environmental and public health scientists, water scientists, policy makers and those responsible for developing standards and regulations.

Download or read book The Practitioner s Guide to Environmental Public Health written by Paul L. Knechtges and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Guide to the Development of On site Sanitation A written by R. Franceys and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides detailed practical and technical advice intended to guide the selection design construction and maintenance of on-site facilities for the removal of human excreta. Addressed to engineers sanitarians medical officers and project planners the book concentrates on technical options suitable for householders building their own latrines whether in small communities rural areas or deprived urban settlements. Details range from line drawings illustrating features of design and construction through a list of reasons why improved sanitation may elicit negative responses from users to instructi.

Download or read book Current Catalog written by National Library of Medicine (U.S.) and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 1076 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes subject section, name section, and 1968-1970, technical reports.

Download or read book Environmental Health Perspectives written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 1252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: