Engineering Commons^™

Planning For Climate Change: The Need For Mechanistic Systems-Based Approaches To Study Climate Change Impacts On Diarrheal Diseases, Jonathan E. Mellor, Karen Levy, Julie Zimmerman, Mark Elliott, Jamie Bartram, Elizabeth Carlton, Thomas Clasen, Rebecca Dilingham, Joseph Eisenberg, Richard Guerrant, Daniele Lantagne, James Mihelcic, Kara Nelson

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Increased precipitation and temperature variability as well as extreme events related to climate change are predicted to affect the availability and quality of water globally. Already heavily burdened with diarrheal diseases due to poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, communities throughout the developing world lack the adaptive capacity to sufficiently respond to the additional adversity caused by climate change. Studies suggest that diarrhea rates are positively correlated with increased temperature, and show a complex relationship with precipitation. Although climate change will likely increase rates of diarrheal diseases on average, there is a poor mechanistic understanding of the underlying …

Drinking Water In The Developing World: Sources Of Fecal Contamination In Pitcher Pump Systems And Measurement Alternatives, Meghan Wahlstrom

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It has been reported that globally we have achieved Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Target 7C, to halve the proportion of the population without access to safe drinking water; however, there is a major flaw with this statement. While Target 7C calls for access to `safe' drinking water, what is actually being measured and reported is access to an `improved' water source. The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that they must use this proxy measure because the methods for water quality testing are too expensive and logistically complicated, but by doing so, they may be over reporting safe water coverage.

This …

Assessing Appropriate Technology Handwashing Stations In Mali, West Africa, Colleen Claire Naughton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Proper hand hygiene is the most effective and efficient method to prevent over 1.3 million deaths annually from diarrheal disease and Acute Respiratory Infections (ARIs). Hand hygiene is also indispensable in achieving the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce the childhood mortality rate by 2/3rds between 1990 and 2015. Handwashing has been found in a systematic review of studies to reduce diarrhea by 47%#37; and is, thus, capable of preventing a million deaths (Curtis et. al., 2003). Despite this evidence, hand washing rates remain seriously low in the developing world (Scott et al., 2008).

This study developed and implemented …