scholarly journals Water safety plans: bridges and barriers to implementation in North Carolina

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 816-826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urooj Quezon Amjad ◽  
Jeanne Luh ◽  
Rachel Baum ◽  
Jamie Bartram

First developed by the World Health Organization, and now used in several countries, water safety plans (WSPs) are a multi-step, preventive process for managing drinking water hazards. While the beneficial impacts of WSPs have been documented in diverse countries, how to successfully implement WSPs in the United States remains a challenge. We examine the willingness and ability of water utility leaders to implement WSPs in the US state of North Carolina. Our findings show that water utilities have more of a reactive than preventive organizational culture, that implementation requires prioritization of time and resources, perceived comparative advantage to other hazard management plans, leadership in implementation, and identification of how WSPs can be embedded in existing work practices. Future research could focus on whether WSP implementation provides benefits such as decreases in operational costs, and improved organization of records and communication.

Author(s):  
Hildie Leung ◽  
Daniel Shek ◽  
Edvina Leung ◽  
Esther Shek

As reported by the World Health Organization in 2017, there are 2 million+ young people living with HIV worldwide. The World Health Organization also reported that a third of all new HIV infections around the world are estimated to occur among youths (aged 15–25). and teen pregnancy rates are on the rise in many places. These worrying trends suggest that existing sexuality education programs and interventions may be inadequate and/or ineffective. Although the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development’s (ICPD) Programme of Action highlighted the roles of Governments to offer sex education to young people to promote teenage reproductive health, yet inconsistency exists in the related initiatives in the global context. The present article aims to provide a comprehensive literature review of the existing sexuality programs in selected places in both English-speaking (i.e., the United States of America, the United Kingdom) and Chinese-speaking contexts (i.e., Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Taiwan). Based on the review, observations and implications for sexuality education policy and practice, as well as recommendations for future research for youths are outlined.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 392-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dani Barrington ◽  
Kathryn Fuller ◽  
Andrew McMillan

Water Safety Plans (WSPs) improve the quality and secure the quantity of drinking water supplies, and hence improve public health outcomes. In developing countries such as Nepal, thousands of residents die each year as a result of poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and WSPs show great promise for improving both health and livelihoods. The Nepali Non-Governmental Organisation Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH) has been working in partnership with Engineers Without Borders Australia and WaterAid Nepal to develop a WSP methodology suited to rural, community-managed water supply systems. Three pilot projects were undertaken incorporating community-based hazard management into the standard World Health Organization and Nepali Department of Water Supply and Sewerage WSP approaches. The successes and challenges of these pilots were assessed, and it was determined that community education, behaviour change, and the distribution of simplified WSP documentation to households and managers were essential to implementing successful WSPs within this context. This new WSP methodology is currently being mainstreamed throughout all of NEWAH's WASH projects in rural Nepal, as well as being shared with the wider Nepali WASH sector.


Author(s):  
Steven Moore

There are several things in life that we take for granted. Water is very often one of them. Each of us uses this vital liquid, the most common substance on earth, everyday. And we rarely think twice about it. Governments and international legislative bodies worldwide are redefining what is “safe to drink.” The United States has led the way by passing into law an amended Safe Drinking Water Act. The European community is considering these standards and the World Health Organization (WHO) provides the impetus for issuing a minimum common standard for the European countries. American consumers are becoming more aware of water quality and consistency. The popularity and increased demand for bottled water continues to grow as people desire better quality and consistency, and are willing to pay for the product. This paper will address the issues of water safety and consistency for a citrus processing plant using water as an ingredient, in food contact, or is contemplating off-season bottled water production. Paper published with permission.


Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 282
Author(s):  
Roger C. K. Law ◽  
Joseph H. K. Lai ◽  
David John Edwards ◽  
Huiying (Cynthia) Hou

Physical contact and respiratory droplet transmission have been widely regarded as the main routes of COVID-19 infection. However, mounting evidence has unveiled the risk of aerosol transmission of the virus. Whereas caution has been taken to avoid this risk in association with clinical facilities, facilities such as spa pools and Jacuzzis, which are characterized by bubble-aerosol generation, high bather loads, and limited turnover rates, may promote aerosol transmission. Focusing on these non-clinical facilities in the built environment, a review study was undertaken. First, the typical water disinfection and ventilation-aided operations for the facilities were illustrated. Second, cross comparisons were made between the applicable standards and guidelines of the World Health Organization and countries including Australia, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The similarities and differences in their water quality specifications, ventilation requirements, and air quality enhancement measures were identified; there were no specific regulations for preventing aerosol transmission at those aerosol-generating facilities. Third, a qualitative review of research publications revealed the emergence of studies on potential air-borne transmission of COVID-19, but research on built facilities posing high risks of aerosol transmission remains scant. This study’s results inform key directions for future research on abating aerosol transmission of COVID-19: the development of bespoke personal protective equipment and engineering and management controls on water quality, ventilation, and air quality.


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Lockhart ◽  
William E. Oswald ◽  
Brian Hubbard ◽  
Elizabeth Medlin ◽  
Richard J. Gelting

Water safety plans (WSPs) are endorsed by the World Health Organization as the most effective method of protecting a water supply. With the increase in WSPs worldwide, several valuable resources have been developed to assist practitioners in the implementation of WSPs, yet there is still a need for a practical and standardized method of evaluating WSP effectiveness. In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a conceptual framework for the evaluation of WSPs, presenting four key outcomes of the WSP process: institutional, operational, financial and policy change. In this paper, we seek to operationalize this conceptual framework by providing a set of simple and practical indicators for assessing WSP outcomes. Using CDC's WSP framework as a foundation and incorporating various existing performance monitoring indicators for water utilities, we developed a set of approximately 25 indicators of institutional, operational, financial and policy change within the WSP context. These outcome indicators hold great potential for the continued implementation and expansion of WSPs worldwide. Having a defined framework for evaluating a WSP's effectiveness, along with a set of measurable indicators by which to carry out that evaluation, will help implementers assess key WSP outcomes internally, as well as benchmark their progress against other WSPs in their region and globally.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishnamoorthy Venkateskumar ◽  
Subramani Parasuraman ◽  
Leow Y. Chuen ◽  
Veerasamy Ravichandran ◽  
Subramani Balamurgan

About 95% of earth living space lies deep below the ocean’s surface and it harbors extraordinary diversity of marine organisms. Marine biodiversity is an exceptional reservoir of natural products, bioactive compounds, nutraceuticals and other potential compounds of commercial value. Timeline for the development of the drug from a plant, synthetic and other alternative sources is too lengthy. Exploration of the marine environment for potential bioactive compounds has gained focus and huge opportunity lies ahead for the exploration of such vast resources in the ocean. Further, the evolution of superbugs with increasing resistance to the currently available drugs is alarming and it needs coordinated efforts to resolve them. World Health Organization recommends the need and necessity to develop effective bioactive compounds to combat problems associated with antimicrobial resistance. Based on these factors, it is imperative to shift the focus towards the marine environment for potential bioactive compounds that could be utilized to tackle antimicrobial resistance. Current research trends also indicate the huge strides in research involving marine environment for drug discovery. The objective of this review article is to provide an overview of marine resources, recently reported research from marine resources, challenges, future research prospects in the marine environment.


Children ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
Emma Woolley ◽  
Shirley Wyver

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months and continuation of breastfeeding for up to two years. Formal child care has an important role in supporting breastfeeding, as many Australian infants commence care before two years of age. Currently, little is known about support or barriers in child care contexts. The present qualitative instrumental case study explores practices which protect, promote and support breastfeeding at a child care centre located in the Australian Capital Territory’s outer suburbs. Extending from a previously published collective case study, a cultural-institutional focus of analysis was used to explore the roles of proximity, flexibility and communication in supporting breastfeeding within a child care centre located close to an infant’s home. Interviews with centre staff and mothers, triangulated with observations of the centre environment and policy documents provide insight into the environment. Affirming the roles of flexibility in routine and staff rostering and two-way communication, findings suggest longer-term benefits may be derived from selecting a child care centre close to an infant’s home, provided mothers can overcome barriers to breastmilk expression in the workplace. The study recognises the role of non-lactating caregivers in the transition to formal child care, and of the support culture for educators who breastfeed. This study extends the knowledge base of breastfeeding support interventions in the child care setting to inform future research and policy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (22) ◽  
pp. 7051-7054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Elguero ◽  
Lucrèce M. Délicat-Loembet ◽  
Virginie Rougeron ◽  
Céline Arnathau ◽  
Benjamin Roche ◽  
...  

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disorder that poses a serious health threat in tropical Africa, which the World Health Organization has declared a public health priority. Its persistence in human populations has been attributed to the resistance it provides to Plasmodium falciparum malaria in its heterozygous state, called sickle cell trait (SCT). Because of migration, SCT is becoming common outside tropical countries: It is now the most important genetic disorder in France, affecting one birth for every 2,400, and one of the most common in the United States. We assess the strength of the association between SCT and malaria, using current data for both SCT and malaria infections. A total of 3,959 blood samples from 195 villages distributed over the entire Republic of Gabon were analyzed. Hemoglobin variants were identified by using HPLCy (HPLC). Infections by three species of Plasmodium were detected by PCR followed by sequencing of a 201-bp fragment of cytochrome b. An increase of 10% in P. falciparum malaria prevalence is associated with an increase by 4.3% of SCT carriers. An increase of 10 y of age is associated with an increase by 5.5% of SCT carriers. Sex is not associated with SCT. These strong associations show that malaria remains a selective factor in current human populations, despite the progress of medicine and the actions undertaken to fight this disease. Our results provide evidence that evolution is still present in humans, although this is sometimes questioned by scientific, political, or religious personalities.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1951 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 570-572

IN THE summary of the report of the Expert Committee on Prematurity of the World Health Organization, published in this column in February 1951, Dr. Ethel Dunham indicated the concern of the Expert Committee in regard to uniformity of information on the incidence and mortality of prematurity. The need for uniformity is particularly urgent in a field where there are so many intrinsic variable factors. It has been shown time and again that the ability of a premature infant to survive, under the best of care, is closely correlated with the birth weight, which in itself reflects the stage of maturity. In turn, the stage of maturity at a given weight is affected by sex, race, and whether the child is a single or one of a multiple birth. Uniformly, at a particular stage of maturity, male infants are larger than female, single births are larger than multiple births and, in the United States, white babies are larger than Negro babies. These considerations underline the danger of misinterpretation of so-called over-all rates for the incidence of prematurity and for the mortality of premature infants. For example, at any given weight, Negro premature infants are probably more mature and consequently have a better chance of surviving.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 113-120
Author(s):  
Athaya Taufiqy

December 2019, COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has focused attention on the mental health of the various affected populations, medical students being one of the more vulnerable groups. Therefore, this literature review aims to find out how the mental health of Faculty of Medicine students during the COVID-19 pandemic, so that it can be used as learning material to always maintain mental health stability. The method used in this study is a literature review and literature search which was carried out by collecting several electronic journals such as PubMed, NCBI and Google Scholar. Conducted by reviewing journals related to the mental health of medical faculty students during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study involved 49 library sources from 2018-2020. From 7,143 students, 0.9% of them experienced severe anxiety, 2.7% moderate, and 21.3% experienced mild anxiety. In addition, delay in academic activities is a risk factor for experiencing symptoms of anxiety. 40% of students also experience financial difficulties, in terms of e-learning platforms, this problem is a challenge for medical students because financial and social factors can be an obstacle to the development and implementation of effective online learning programs. Future research is urgently needed to provide a better explanation of the tips needed for students in adapting to the changes that occur in order to lead a mentally healthy life in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.


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