Health Equity: 03/19/10

Friday, March 19, 2010

[EQ] Wastewater Irrigation and Health

Wastewater Irrigation and Health
Assessing and Mitigating Risk in Low-income Countries

Edited by Pay Drechsel, Christopher A. Scott, Liqa Raschid-Sally, Mark Redwood, and Akiça Bahri
Earthscan/IDRC 2010 - ISBN 978-1-84407-795-3 /e-ISBN 978-1-55250-475-8 - 432 pp.
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Available full text online at: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-149129-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

“……In most developing countries wastewater treatment systems have very low coverage or function poorly, resulting in large-scale water pollution and the use of poor-quality water for crop irrigation, especially in the vicinity of urban centres. This can pose significant risks to public health, particularly where crops are eaten raw.

Wastewater Irrigation and Health approaches this serious problem from a practical and realistic perspective, addressing the issues of health risk assessment and reduction in developing country settings. The book therefore complements other books on the topic of wastewater which focus on high-end treatment options and the use of treated wastewater.

This book moves the debate forward by covering also the common reality of untreated wastewater, greywater and excreta use. It presents the state-of-the-art on quantitative risk assessment and low-cost options for health risk reduction, from treatment to on-farm and off-farm measures, in support of the multiple barrier approach of the 2006 guidelines for safe wastewater irrigation published by the World Health Organization.

The 38 authors and co-authors are international key experts in the field of wastewater irrigation representing a mix of agronomists, engineers, social scientists and public health experts from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Australia.

The chapters highlight experiences across the developing world with reference to various case studies from sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Mexico and the Middle East. The book also addresses options for resource recovery and wastewater governance, thus clearly establishes a connection between agriculture, health and sanitation, which is often the missing link in the current discussion on ‘making wastewater an asset’. ….”

Content

Foreword
Preface

PART 1. SETTING THE STAGE

1. Wastewater, Sludge and Excreta Use in Developing Countries: An Overview
Blanca Jiménez, Pay Drechsel, Doulaye Koné, Akiça Bahri, Liqa Raschid-Sally and Manzoor Qadir

2. Assessing and Mitigating Wastewater-Related Health Risks in Low-Income Countries: An Introduction
Robert Bos, Richard Carr and Bernard Keraita¹

PART 2. RISKS AND RISK ASSESSMENT

3. Risk Analysis and Epidemiology: The 2006 WHO Guidelines for the Safe Use of Wastewater in Agriculture
Duncan Mara and Robert Bos¹

4. Approaches to Evaluate and Develop Health Risk-Based Standards Using Available Data
Inés Navarro, Peter Teunis, Christine Moe and Blanca Jiménez

5. Tools for Risk Analysis: Updating the 2006 WHO Guidelines
Duncan Mara, Andrew J. Hamilton, Andrew Sleigh, Natalie Karavarsamis and Razak Seidu

6. Non-Pathogenic Trade-Offs of Wastewater Irrigation
Manzoor Qadir and Christopher A. Scott

7. Risk Analysis Integrating Livelihood and Economic Impacts of Wastewater Irrigation on Health
Marites M. Tiongco, Clare A. Narrod and Kelly Bidwell

PART 3. MINIMIZING HEALTH RISKS

8. Wastewater Treatment for Pathogen Removal and Nutrient Conservation: Suitable Systems for Use in Developing Countries
Blanca Jiménez, Duncan Mara, Richard Carr and François Brissaud¹

9. Low-Cost Options for Pathogen Reduction and Nutrient Recovery from Faecal Sludge
Doulaye Koné, Olufunke O. Cofie and Kara Nelson

10. Farm-Based Measures for Reducing Microbiological Health Risks for Consumers from Informal Wastewater-Irrigated Agriculture
Bernard Keraita, Flemming Konradsen and Pay Drechsel

11. Farm-Based Measures for Reducing Human and Environmental Health Risks from Chemical Constituents in Wastewater
Robert Simmons, Manzoor Qadir and Pay Drechsel

12. Applying the Multiple-Barrier Approach for Microbial Risk Reduction in the Post-Harvest Sector of Wastewater-Irrigated Vegetables
Sanja Ilic, Pay Drechsel, Philip Amoah and Jeffrey T. LeJeune

13. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Interventions for Diarrhoea Disease Reduction among Consumers of Wastewater
Irrigated Lettuce in Ghana – Razak Seidu and Pay Drechsel

PART 4. WASTEWATER GOVERNANCE AND ADOPTION OF RISK-REDUCTION OPTIONS
14. Challenging Conventional Approaches to Managing Wastewater Use in Agriculture
Frans Huibers, Mark Redwood and Liqa Raschid-Sally

15. Designing Reuse-Oriented Sanitation Infrastructure: The Design for Service Planning Approach
Ashley Murray and Chris Buckley

16. Facilitating the Adoption of Food-Safety Interventions in the Street-Food Sector and on Farms
Hanna Karg, Pay Drechsel, Philip Amoah and Regina Jeitler

17. Harnessing Farmers’ Knowledge and Perceptions for Health-Risk Reduction in Wastewater-Irrigated Agriculture
Bernard Keraita, Pay Drechsel, Razak Seidu, Priyanie Amerasinghe, Olufunke O. Cofie and Flemming Konradsen

18. Multi-Stakeholder Processes for Managing Wastewater Use in Agriculture
Alexandra E. V. Evans, Liqa Raschid-Sally and Olufunke O. Cofie

PART 5 — CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK
19. Wastewater Irrigation and Health: Challenges and Outlook for Mitigating Risks in Low-Income Countries
Christopher A. Scott, Pay Drechsel, Liqa Raschid-Sally, Akiça Bahri, Duncan Mara, Mark Redwood and Blanca Jiménez

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[EQ] Conference: Priority Setting in Difficult Economic Times

Priorities 2010

Biennial Meeting of the International Society on Priorities in Health Care

The International Society on Priorities in Health Care


 April 23-25, 2010  Boston MA.

Conference theme: "Priority Setting in Difficult Economic Times"

Website: http://www.organizational-services.com/priorities2010/

To address the financial crisis that has challenged the ability of health systems across the globe with questions about how to prioritize and deliver affordable health care particularly to populations in resource poor settings.

The meeting is scheduled back-to-back with the Harvard University Program in Ethics and Health 5th Annual International Conference which will focus this year on the ethics of procedures in priority setting.

Agenda: http://www.organizational-services.com/priorities2010/Preliminary-Agenda.pdf

Keynote speakers:

JudyAnn Bigby, M.D. Massachusetts Secretary for Health and Human Services: 
 Universal Coverage in Massachusetts: How it Affects Resource Allocation and the Care of Disadvantaged Populations

Dean Jamison, Ph.D., Professor of Global Health, University of Washington
 The Disease Control Priorities Project: Accomplishments and Future Challenges

Maureen Lewis, Ph.D., Economic Advisor, World Bank
 Effects of Economic Recession on Achievement of Millennium Development Goals: Possible Response Options

The purpose of the Society is to strengthen the theory and practice of priority setting in health care. It provides a forum in which researchers, practitioners and others involved in priority setting can come together to exchange ideas and experience.

    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.

[EQ] Megacities and urban health

Megacities and urban health

World Health Organization Centre for Health Development

(WHO Kobe Centre – WKC) December 2009, Kobe, Japan

Available online at : http://www.who.or.jp/2009/reports/Megacities_Report_DEC09.pdf

“……Megacities are cities of 10 million or more inhabitants. There are more than 20 megacities in the world and they are highly diverse. They concentrate national and global economic and political power as well as scientific, political and media attention.

When analysing health in megacities, it is difficult to separate the effect of size from other variables. However, cities of similar size do not necessarily suffer from the same problems, and at the same time common issues can be found among cities of very different dimensions. Nevertheless, starting with an analysis of their common characteristics, we identify nine challenges that megacities face which have particular health impact: transportation, governance, water and sanitation, safety, food security, water and sanitation, health care, emergency preparedness, and environmental issues.

Each challenge is analysed in terms of its relationship with urban health. They are highly influenced by the complexity of megacities in terms of population size, geographical extension, social inequalities, and usually multiple and fragmented metropolitan governments. We conclude that given the variation among megacities and the extent of commonalities between megacities and other lower population settings, the relevance of the megacity as a category in urban health is limited.

Yet the identification of these challenges, and the different ways in which they are being handled, is useful for shedding light on determinants of health and potential intersectoral interventions in a range of urban settings well beyond this group of cities….”

Table of contents

Summary

1. Introduction

2. Some key issues for urban health in megacities

3. Transportation policy

4. Governance

5. Assessment of inequalities

6. Food security

7. Conclusions

8. References

    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.