Download or read book Drinking Water Quality and Human Health written by Patrick Levallois and published by MDPI. This book was released on 2019-04-04 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The quality of drinking water is paramount for public health. Despite important improvements in the last decades, access to safe drinking water is not universal. The World Health Organization estimates that almost 10% of the population in the world do not have access to improved drinking water sources. Among other diseases, waterborne infections cause diarrhea, which kills nearly one million people every year, mostly children under 5 years of age. On the other hand, chemical pollution is a concern in high-income countries and an increasing problem in low- and middle-income countries. Exposure to chemicals in drinking water may lead to a range of chronic non-communicable diseases (e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disease), adverse reproductive outcomes, and effects on children’s health (e.g., neurodevelopment), among other health effects. Although drinking water quality is regulated and monitored in many countries, increasing knowledge leads to the need for reviewing standards and guidelines on a nearly permanent basis, both for regulated and newly identified contaminants. Drinking water standards are mostly based on animal toxicity data, and more robust epidemiologic studies with accurate exposure assessment are needed. The current risk assessment paradigm dealing mostly with one-by-one chemicals dismisses the potential synergisms or interactions from exposures to mixtures of contaminants, particularly at the low-exposure range. Thus, evidence is needed on exposure and health effects of mixtures of contaminants in drinking water. Finally, water stress and water quality problems are expected to increase in the coming years due to climate change and increasing water demand by population growth, and new evidence is needed to design appropriate adaptation policies. This Special Issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) focuses on the current state of knowledge on the links between drinking water quality and human health.

Download or read book Management of Legionella in Water Systems written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2020-02-20 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Legionnaires' disease, a pneumonia caused by the Legionella bacterium, is the leading cause of reported waterborne disease outbreaks in the United States. Legionella occur naturally in water from many different environmental sources, but grow rapidly in the warm, stagnant conditions that can be found in engineered water systems such as cooling towers, building plumbing, and hot tubs. Humans are primarily exposed to Legionella through inhalation of contaminated aerosols into the respiratory system. Legionnaires' disease can be fatal, with between 3 and 33 percent of Legionella infections leading to death, and studies show the incidence of Legionnaires' disease in the United States increased five-fold from 2000 to 2017. Management of Legionella in Water Systems reviews the state of science on Legionella contamination of water systems, specifically the ecology and diagnosis. This report explores the process of transmission via water systems, quantification, prevention and control, and policy and training issues that affect the incidence of Legionnaires' disease. It also analyzes existing knowledge gaps and recommends research priorities moving forward.

Download or read book Guidelines for Drinking water Quality written by World Health Organization and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 1993 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume describes the methods used in the surveillance of drinking water quality in the light of the special problems of small-community supplies, particularly in developing countries, and outlines the strategies necessary to ensure that surveillance is effective.

Download or read book Safe Water in Healthcare written by James T. Walker and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2023-03-20 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Safe Water in Healthcare: A Practical and Clinical Guide enables users from different disciplines to understand all types of waterborne hazards that can pose a risk to those who might be exposed, the events which cause them to be present, what may precipitate an increase in their levels that may cause harm, and how they can be avoided or managed to reduce risk. The handbook highlights microorganisms that can cause infections, modes of transmission, the infections they cause, and risks. The book's authors draw from their extensive practical experience assisting with day-to-day problems that range from minor issues to outbreaks. The book includes case studies on the growth of biofilms and where they cause problems in water systems as well as providing practical answers to a majority of issues that arise in healthcare water and drainage systems. This is an accessible handbook that fills the gaps for those without technical knowledge for a complex but important area of infection control. It provides practical guidance for professionals who are required to design, manage and maintain water systems and help them manage associated infection outbreaks. - Discusses waterborne pathogens, their detection, identification and surveillance and describes the extent and range of recognized and emerging waterborne microorganisms as well as the diseases that occur and consequences to patients and staff - Covers hazards that can cause harm within water systems and associated equipment, the circumstances or factors that increase the risks, and the multiple modes of transmission of waterborne pathogens - Explains the importance of good design, including the type of design, management, hardware and software that can help manage and control the presence of waterborne pathogens. - Highlights who needs to be involved at each stage to ensure that patients are kept safe from waterborne pathogens, taking into account current legislation and best practices guidance

Download or read book Health in Humanitarian Emergencies written by David Townes and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-31 with total page 509 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive, best practices resource for public health and healthcare practitioners and students interested in humanitarian emergencies.

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 Earth Materials and Health written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-05-09 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A range of natural earth materials, like arsenic or fluoride, have long been linked to significant human health effects. Improved understanding of the pervasive and complex interactions between earth materials and human health will require creative collaborations between earth scientists and public health professionals. At the request of the National Science Foundation, U.S. Geological Survey, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, this National Research Council book assesses the current state of knowledge at the interface between the earth sciences and public health disciplines. The book identifies high-priority areas for collaborative research, including understanding the transport and bioavailability of potentially hazardous earth materials, using risk-based scenarios to mitigate the public health effects of natural hazards under current and future climate regimes, and understanding the health risks that result from disturbance of earth systems. Geospatial information - geological maps for earth scientists and epidemiological data for public health professionals - is identified as one of the essential integrative tools that is fundamental to the activities of both communities. The book also calls for increased data sharing between agencies to promote interdisciplinary research without compromising privacy.

Download or read book Handbook of Global Health written by Ilona Kickbusch and published by Springer. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 2881 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global health is a rapidly emerging discipline with a transformative potential for public policy and international development. Emphasizing transnational health issues, global health aims to improve health and achieve health equity for all people worldwide. Its multidisciplinary scope includes contributions from many disciplines within and beyond the health sciences, including clinical medicine, public health, social and behavioral sciences, environmental sciences, economics, public policy, law and ethics. This large reference offers up-to-date information and expertise across all aspects of global health and helps readers to achieve a truly multidisciplinary understanding of the topics, trends as well as the clinical, socioeconomic and environmental drivers impacting global health. As a fully comprehensive, state-of-the-art and continuously updated, living reference, the Handbook of Global Health is an important, dynamic resource to provide context for global health clinical care, organizational decision-making, and overall public policy on many levels. Health workers, physicians, economists, environmental and social scientists, trainees and medical students as well as professionals and practitioners will find this handbook of great value.

Download or read book Topics in Public Health written by David Claborn and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2015-06-17 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public health has been defined as the efforts of a community that allow a population to remain healthy. This definition is very inclusive, so elements of clinical care, health promotion and many other fields contribute to the larger discipline of public health. The profession has evolved in recent years, with the emphasis in the developed world changing from the hygiene method for control of infectious diseases to a more complex approach to address chronic disease. However, the focus in public health continues to be the population. This book provides a sample of fields that contribute to the public health profession. Its broad approach provides examples of the core fields of public health, including environmental health, epidemiology, biostatistics, health administration, and health behavior.

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 WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care written by World Health Organization and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care provide health-care workers (HCWs), hospital administrators and health authorities with a thorough review of evidence on hand hygiene in health care and specific recommendations to improve practices and reduce transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to patients and HCWs. The present Guidelines are intended to be implemented in any situation in which health care is delivered either to a patient or to a specific group in a population. Therefore, this concept applies to all settings where health care is permanently or occasionally performed, such as home care by birth attendants. Definitions of health-care settings are proposed in Appendix 1. These Guidelines and the associated WHO Multimodal Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy and an Implementation Toolkit (http://www.who.int/gpsc/en/) are designed to offer health-care facilities in Member States a conceptual framework and practical tools for the application of recommendations in practice at the bedside. While ensuring consistency with the Guidelines recommendations, individual adaptation according to local regulations, settings, needs, and resources is desirable. This extensive review includes in one document sufficient technical information to support training materials and help plan implementation strategies. The document comprises six parts.

Download or read book Health Aspects of Plumbing written by World Health Organization and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2006-03-03 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication describes the processes involved in the design installation and maintenance of modern plumbing systems. It recommends a number of plumbing system design and installation specifications that have demonstrated their validity from years of experience. It also examines the microbiological chemical physical and financial risks associated with plumbing and outlines the major risk management strategies that are used in the plumbing industry and emphasizes the importance of measures to conserve supplies of clean water. This work is dedicated to assisting developing countries in achieving the best possible plumbing levels to ensure the highest health benefits from use of sound plumbing practices. It is aimed at administrators and plumbers working in areas that are served by a mains drinking- water supply or sewerage system or are about to install a mains drinking- water supply or sewerage system. It should be of particular value to those working in countries or areas that are in the early stages of introducing modern plumbing systems. While it draws attention to the problems of drinking- water supply and waste removal in developing countries and outlines some of the strategies currently used it does not systematically cover issues specific to developing countries.

Download or read book Essential Environmental Health Standards for Health Care written by John Adams and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2008-05-16 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ensuring safe environmental health conditions in health care can reduce the transmission of health care-associated infections. This document provides guidelines on essential environmental health standards required for health care in medium- and low-resource countries and support the development and implementation of national policies.

Download or read book Water and Health written by Prati Pal Singh and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Water and Health” strengthens the dynamic relationship between human health and water. The book has the potential to ignite our minds about several water-related diseases due to biological and chemical contamination, and to their high-end solutions. The contents are original, comprehensive and highly informative, and gradually take the reader around the component most important to his or her quality life, and not just existence. The book is set in social, scientific and economic dimensions, and is a must read for all those who cherish and celebrate human life and dignity.

Download or read book Decontamination in Hospitals and Healthcare written by James T. Walker and published by Woodhead Publishing. This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Decontamination in Hospitals and Healthcare, Second Edition, enables users to obtain detailed knowledge of decontamination practices in healthcare settings, including surfaces, devices, clothing and people, with a specific focus on hospitals and dental clinics. - Offers in-depth coverage of all aspects of decontamination in healthcare - Examines the decontamination of surgical equipment and endoscopes - Expanded to include new information on behavioral principles in decontamination, control of microbiological problems, waterborne microorganisms, pseudomonas and the decontamination of laundry

Download or read book Drinking Water and Health written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1977-01-01 with total page 948 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most recent volume in the Drinking Water and Health series contains the results of a two-part study on the toxicity of drinking water contaminants. The first part examines current practices in risk assessment, identifies new noncancerous toxic responses to chemicals found in drinking water, and discusses the use of pharmacokinetic data to estimate the delivered dose and response. The second part of the book provides risk assessments for 14 specific compounds, 9 presented here for the first time.

Download or read book Equality in Water and Sanitation Services written by Oliver Cumming and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-07-26 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is growing acceptance that the progress delivered under the Millennium Development Goal target for drinking water and sanitation has been inequitable. As a result, the progressive reduction of inequalities is now an explicit focus of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, adopted in 2015, for universal access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). This shift in focus has implications for the way in which the next generation of WASH policies and programmes will be conceived, designed, financed and monitored. This book provides an authoritative textbook for students, as well as a point of reference for policy-makers and practitioners interested in reducing inequalities in access to WASH services. Four key areas are addressed: background to the human right to water and development goals; dimensions of inequality; case studies in delivering water and sanitation equitably; and monitoring progress in reducing inequality.