Chlorination of Drinking Water – Scientific Evidence and Policy Implications

The urban centers offering diverse employment opportunities and means of livelihood are the main centers of attraction for migration. But the availability of infrastructure is low to accommodate the invariably growing population. The access to basic amenities like electricity, drinking water, toilet facility, wastewater outlet and clean fuel are critical determinants of quality of urbanization. And if it lacks, then it would facilitates the growth of slum. In this paper it being tried to capture the interdependent relationship between basic amenities and slum population residing in the class I towns in Maharashtra; largest slum populated state of India. As the slum is all about the situation or condition in which the people of medium and lower strata are living. A detailed analysis of proportion of slum population and availability of amenities which includes good housing condition, treated tap water as the source of drinking water, electricity as the source of lightning, households having latrine and bathing facility within the premises, waste water outlet connected to closed drainage, and households availing the banking facilities. This may be a limitation of the study that only these indicators have been taken to assess the availability of amenities and to calculate the amenity index of class I towns of the state of Maharashtra. To achieve the sustainable development goal (Sustainable cities and communities), we have to control the growth of slum population and to combat the formation of slum; we have to analyze the situation of basic infrastructure provided in urban centers. Amenities and slum population has policy implications as to reduce the slum population, provide basic amenities to the households which will improve their standard of living and ultimately lead to reduction in growth of slum and check the future slum formation.

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Pioneer Legislation on Second Order of Sexual Harassment: Sociolegal Innovation in Addressing Sexual Harassment

Sexuality Research and Social Policy ◽

10.1007/s13178-021-00571-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ana Vidu ◽

Gema Tomás ◽

Ramon Flecha

Keyword(s):

Sexual Harassment ◽

Women's Studies ◽

Legal System ◽

Scientific Evidence ◽

Second Order ◽

Bystander Intervention ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Women’S Studies ◽

Key Innovation ◽

First Time

Abstract Backgroud Countless efforts to combat sexual harassment have been proposed, and for the first time in history, the second order of sexual harassment (SOSH) has been legislated under the term second-order violence (SOV) by a unanimous vote of the Catalan Parliament. Advances in preventing and responding to sexual harassment contribute to highlighting the intervention as being crucial to supporting survivors against retaliation. A lack of support provides a general explanation on why bystanders tend not to intervene and highlights the reality that reprisals are suffered by those who support victims. Methods From the existing knowledge about sexual harassment prevention and response mechanisms, this paper analyzes scientific evidence through a review of the literature published in databases, as well as legislation, reports, and other materials. Results The context that enables SOV legislation is grounded in three realms: (1) bystander intervention and protection, (2) the role of support networks in protecting survivors, and (3) awareness and legislation of SOSH. An active bystander refers to the involvement of someone who is aware of potential sexual harassment situations. Conclusions The lack of legislation against SOSH limits bystander intervention and support; therefore, legislating protection for supporters has become urgent and necessary. Legislating SOSH has great social implications because gender equality cannot be fully achieved if bystander protection is not legally considered. Policy Implications: As no legal system has previously contemplated SOSH, its pioneering parliamentarian approval and establishment by Catalan law constitute a legal key innovation for the field of gender and women’s studies. In fact, evidence reported here are important in developing further regulations and policy. Policy Implications As no legal system has previously contemplated SOSH, its pioneering parliamentarian approval and establishment by Catalan law constitute a legal key innovation for the field of gender and women’s studies. In fact, evidence reported here are important in developing further regulations and policy.

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Human infectious disease burdens decrease with urbanization but not with biodiversity

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2016.0122 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 372 (1722) ◽

pp. 20160122 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Chelsea L. Wood ◽

Alex McInturff ◽

Hillary S. Young ◽

DoHyung Kim ◽

Kevin D. Lafferty

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Infectious Diseases ◽

Disease Transmission ◽

Scientific Evidence ◽

Dilution Effect ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Global Public Health ◽

Country Level ◽

Life Years ◽

Over Time

Infectious disease burdens vary from country to country and year to year due to ecological and economic drivers. Recently, Murray et al. (Murray CJ et al . 2012 Lancet 380 , 2197–2223. ( doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61689-4 )) estimated country-level morbidity and mortality associated with a variety of factors, including infectious diseases, for the years 1990 and 2010. Unlike other databases that report disease prevalence or count outbreaks per country, Murray et al. report health impacts in per-person disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), allowing comparison across diseases with lethal and sublethal health effects. We investigated the spatial and temporal relationships between DALYs lost to infectious disease and potential demographic, economic, environmental and biotic drivers, for the 60 intermediate-sized countries where data were available and comparable. Most drivers had unique associations with each disease. For example, temperature was positively associated with some diseases and negatively associated with others, perhaps due to differences in disease agent thermal optima, transmission modes and host species identities. Biodiverse countries tended to have high disease burdens, consistent with the expectation that high diversity of potential hosts should support high disease transmission. Contrary to the dilution effect hypothesis, increases in biodiversity over time were not correlated with improvements in human health, and increases in forestation over time were actually associated with increased disease burden. Urbanization and wealth were associated with lower burdens for many diseases, a pattern that could arise from increased access to sanitation and healthcare in cities and increased investment in healthcare. The importance of urbanization and wealth helps to explain why most infectious diseases have become less burdensome over the past three decades, and points to possible levers for further progress in improving global public health. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Conservation, biodiversity and infectious disease: scientific evidence and policy implications’.

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Conservation, development and the management of infectious disease: avian influenza in China, 2004–2012

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2016.0126 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 372 (1722) ◽

pp. 20160126 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Tong Wu ◽

Charles Perrings

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Risk Factors ◽

Avian Influenza ◽

Wildlife Conservation ◽

Disease Risk ◽

Risk Mitigation ◽

Scientific Evidence ◽

Migratory Bird ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Economic Risk

There is growing evidence that wildlife conservation measures have mixed effects on the emergence and spread of zoonotic disease. Wildlife conservation has been found to have both positive (dilution) and negative (contagion) effects. In the case of avian influenza H5N1 in China, the focus has been on negative effects. Lakes and wetlands attracting migrating waterfowl have been argued to be disease hotspots. We consider the implications of waterfowl conservation for H5N1 infections in both poultry and humans between 2004 and 2012. We model both environmental and economic risk factors. Environmental risk factors comprise the conditions that structure interaction between wild and domesticated birds. Economic risk factors comprise the cost of disease, biosecurity measures and disease risk mitigation. We find that H5N1 outbreaks in poultry populations are indeed sensitive to the existence of wild-domesticated bird mixing zones, but not in the way we would expect from the literature. We find that risk is decreasing in protected migratory bird habitat. Since the number of human cases is increasing in the number of poultry outbreaks, as expected, the implication is that the protection of wetlands important for migratory birds offers unexpected human health benefits. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Conservation, biodiversity and infectious disease: scientific evidence and policy implications’.

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ANALISIS KESEDIAAN MEMBAYAR JASA LINGKUNGAN DALAM PENGELOLAAN SUMBERDAYA AIR MINUM TERPADU DI INDONESIA (STUDI KASUS DAS CISADANE HULU)

Jurnal Teknologi Lingkungan ◽

10.29122/jtl.v12i1.1258 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 17

Author(s):

Muhammad Fauzi Sutopo ◽

Bunasor Sanim ◽

Yusman Saukat ◽

Muhammad Ikhwanuddin Mawardi

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Willingness To Pay ◽

Positive Response ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Future Generations ◽

Environmental Services ◽

The Public ◽

Water Users ◽

The Government ◽

Model Approach

Ecocentrism paradigm in development are intended to ensure the sustainability of water resources in the future for future generations. The research methodology was conducted with the model approach to drinking water users willingness to pay for environmental services (YWTP). The results in Analysis Willingness to Pay in Drinking Water Management in the Upstream Watershed Cisadane illustrates that the existence of a positive response from drinking water users (entrepreneurs) to be willingness to pay for environmental services (YWTP) as payment and reward for environmental services to the public because it is influenced by the presence and the beneficiaries are significantly linearly with level of education (sig. 0.041) and Variable in YWTP education significant at 95% confidence level. Policy implications of this research that the user (downstream) is willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental services with averaging Rp1 538.65 per m3 as payment or reward for environmental services to society (upstream), so the Government (Local) PES has a potential revenue to fund conservation of Rp106.94 billion per years, but in current conditions the government only earns Rp20.57 billionper year, so that only reached 19.24%.

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Do Sex Offenders Have Higher Levels of Testosterone? Results From a Meta-Analysis

Sexual Abuse ◽

10.1177/1079063216637857 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 147-168 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Jennifer S. Wong ◽

Jason Gravel

Keyword(s):

Sex Offenders ◽

Child Molesters ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Scientific Evidence ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Future Directions ◽

Lower Baseline ◽

Fixed And Random Effects ◽

Analysis Models ◽

The Relationship

The purpose of the current study is to review the available scientific evidence on the relationship between testosterone and sexual aggression. A systematic search for all primary studies comparing basal testosterone levels in sex offenders and non-sex offenders was undertaken across 20 electronic databases using an explicit search strategy and inclusion/exclusion criteria. A total of seven studies were identified and 11 effect sizes were computed; effects were pooled using both fixed and random effects meta-analysis models. Although individual study findings present a mix of results wherein sex offenders have higher or lower baseline levels of testosterone than non-sex offenders, pooled results indicate no overall difference between groups. Moderators of the analyses suggest possibly lower rates of testosterone in child molesters than controls; however, results are dependent on study weighting. Limitations, policy implications with respect to chemical castration laws, and future directions for research are discussed.

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Disease ecology, health and the environment: a framework to account for ecological and socio-economic drivers in the control of neglected tropical diseases

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2016.0128 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 372 (1722) ◽

pp. 20160128 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

A. Garchitorena ◽

S. H. Sokolow ◽

B. Roche ◽

C. N. Ngonghala ◽

M. Jocque ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Disease Ecology ◽

Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽

Scientific Evidence ◽

Buruli Ulcer ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Relative Role ◽

Tropical Diseases ◽

Human Pathogens ◽

Modelling Framework ◽

Environmental Reservoir

Reducing the burden of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) is one of the key strategic targets advanced by the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite the unprecedented effort deployed for NTD elimination in the past decade, their control, mainly through drug administration, remains particularly challenging: persistent poverty and repeated exposure to pathogens embedded in the environment limit the efficacy of strategies focused exclusively on human treatment or medical care. Here, we present a simple modelling framework to illustrate the relative role of ecological and socio-economic drivers of environmentally transmitted parasites and pathogens. Through the analysis of system dynamics, we show that periodic drug treatments that lead to the elimination of directly transmitted diseases may fail to do so in the case of human pathogens with an environmental reservoir. Control of environmentally transmitted diseases can be more effective when human treatment is complemented with interventions targeting the environmental reservoir of the pathogen. We present mechanisms through which the environment can influence the dynamics of poverty via disease feedbacks. For illustration, we present the case studies of Buruli ulcer and schistosomiasis, two devastating waterborne NTDs for which control is particularly challenging. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Conservation, biodiversity and infectious disease: scientific evidence and policy implications’.

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Removing Arsenic from Contaminated Drinking Water in Rural Bangladesh: Recent Fieldwork Results and Policy Implications

10.2172/972648 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Johanna L. Mathieu ◽

Ashok J. Gadgil ◽

Kristin Kowolik ◽

Susan E.A. Addy

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Rural Bangladesh ◽

Contaminated Drinking Water

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Nearly 400 million people are at higher risk of schistosomiasis because dams block the migration of snail-eating river prawns

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2016.0127 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 372 (1722) ◽

pp. 20160127 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Susanne H. Sokolow ◽

Isabel J. Jones ◽

Merlijn Jocque ◽

Diana La ◽

Olivia Cords ◽

...

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Scientific Evidence ◽

Economic Effects ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Senegal River ◽

Large Dams ◽

Human Schistosomiasis ◽

Before And After ◽

Sub Saharan

Dams have long been associated with elevated burdens of human schistosomiasis, but how dams increase disease is not always clear, in part because dams have many ecological and socio-economic effects. A recent hypothesis argues that dams block reproduction of the migratory river prawns that eat the snail hosts of schistosomiasis. In the Senegal River Basin, there is evidence that prawn populations declined and schistosomiasis increased after completion of the Diama Dam. Restoring prawns to a water-access site upstream of the dam reduced snail density and reinfection rates in people. However, whether a similar cascade of effects (from dams to prawns to snails to human schistosomiasis) occurs elsewhere is unknown. Here, we examine large dams worldwide and identify where their catchments intersect with endemic schistosomiasis and the historical habitat ranges of large, migratory Macrobrachium spp. prawns. River prawn habitats are widespread, and we estimate that 277–385 million people live within schistosomiasis-endemic regions where river prawns are or were present (out of the 800 million people who are at risk of schistosomiasis). Using a published repository of schistosomiasis studies in sub-Saharan Africa, we compared infection before and after the construction of 14 large dams for people living in: (i) upstream catchments within historical habitats of native prawns, (ii) comparable undammed watersheds, and (iii) dammed catchments beyond the historical reach of migratory prawns. Damming was followed by greater increases in schistosomiasis within prawn habitats than outside prawn habitats. We estimate that one third to one half of the global population-at-risk of schistosomiasis could benefit from restoration of native prawns. Because dams block prawn migrations, our results suggest that prawn extirpation contributes to the sharp increase of schistosomiasis after damming, and points to prawn restoration as an ecological solution for reducing human disease. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Conservation, biodiversity and infectious disease: scientific evidence and policy implications’.

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Arsenic in Drinking Water: Policy Implications in Mexico

Annals of Global Health ◽

10.1016/j.aogh.2017.03.032 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 83 (1) ◽

pp. 15

Author(s):

A.T. Fisher ◽

L. Lopez-Carrillo ◽

B. Gamboa-Loira ◽

M.E. Cebrián

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Water Policy ◽

Policy Implications

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