Improving Environmental Sanitation, Health, and Well-Being: A Conceptual Framework for Integral Interventions

Abstract

We introduce a conceptual framework for improving health and environmental sanitation in urban and peri-urban areas using an approach combining health, ecological, and socioeconomic and cultural assessments. The framework takes into account the three main components: i) health status, ii) physical environment, and iii) socioeconomic and cultural environment. Information on each of these three components can be obtained by using standard disciplinary methods and an innovative combination of these methods. In this way, analyses lead to extended characterization of health, ecological, and social risks while allowing the comprehensive identification of critical control points (CCPs) in relation to biomedical, epidemiological, ecological, and socioeconomic and cultural factors. The proposed concept complements the conventional CCP approach by including an actor perspective that considers vulnerability to risk and patterns of resilience. Interventions deriving from the comprehensive analysis consider biomedical, engineering, and social science perspectives, or a combination of them. By this way, the proposed framework jointly addresses health and environmental sanitation improvements, and recovery and reuse of natural resources. Moreover, interventions encompass not only technical solutions but also behavioral, social, and institutional changes which are derived from the identified resilience patterns. The interventions are assessed with regards to their potential to eliminate or reduce specific risk factors and vulnerability, enhance health status, and assure equity. The framework is conceptualized and validated for the context of urban and peri-urban settings in developing countries focusing on waste, such as excreta, wastewater, and solid waste, their influence on food quality, and their related pathogens, nutrients, and chemical pollutants.

Helminth Diversity in Synanthropic Rodents from an Urban Ecosystem

“…Taking into account that other animals are present, like dog, cats, horses, the risk of zoonotic infection in humans, especially children, is high. Zoonotic diseases can be managed through the reduction in human exposure patterns, reducing environmental pollution, improving hygiene practices of community members, and changing the behavior and attitudes (Nguyen-Viet et al 2009). We suggest that environmental health education campaigns are a feasible starting point for the incorporation of concepts related to environmental improvement and healthy hygiene practices, indispensable to obtain a preventive attitude about the problem posed by the presence of rodents in such environments (Hancke and Suárez 2014).…”

Intestinal parasitic infections and associated risk factors in preschoolers from different urban settings in Central-Western Brazil

“…The findings prove that living condition is extremely variable in this population and that it seems to be related to the differences in the occurrence of intestinal parasitic infections. This scenario requires specific and integrated strategies that include the monitoring of health conditions, enhancement of basic sanitation, improved income distribution, and health education programs [1,29,35]. These measures may contribute to the improvement of children's health by reducing public and individual medical care costs and the burden of these infections, thus directly enhancing the quality of life.…”

Quantification of Diarrhea Risk Related to Wastewater Contact in Thailand

“…This article is part of a larger study on combined health and environmental assessment of environmental sanitation in developing countries (Nguyen-Viet et al 2009), aimed at assessing the health risks related to the pathogen transmission of wastewater in Klong Luang municipality, Pathumthani Province, Thailand using the method of quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA). This method is used to estimate the probability of health risks following the ingestion of pathogens and depends on the availability of numerical data and consumption pathways.…”