Sanitization News and Research

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New computational model could forecast cholera outbreaks

Just as the rainy season is driving a new surge of cholera cases in Haiti, a new computational model could forecast where outbreaks are likely to occur.

11 Aug 2011

Nepal looks to improved cooking stoves to improve health, environment

Inter Press Service examines how Nepal is combating the poor health effects of open-fire cooking stoves by replacing them with improved cooking stoves.

10 Aug 2011

Obama administration announces additional $105M for humanitarian efforts in Horn of Africa

"President Obama has approved an additional $105 million for 'urgent humanitarian relief efforts' in the Horn of Africa, White House press secretary Jay Carney announced in a statement Monday afternoon," Politico's "Politico44" blog reports.

10 Aug 2011

Jill Biden leads U.S. delegation to Kenya to assess conditions in Horn of Africa

Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, USAID Administrator Raj Shah, Assistant Secretary of State Eric Schwartz and Special Assistant to the President Gayle Smith arrived in Kenya on Monday to assess and raise awareness of the famine conditions in the Horn of Africa, Capital FM News reports.

9 Aug 2011

Report says public-public partnerships can provide safe, affordable water to poor populations

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "triggered a political controversy last week when he implicitly declared that even human rights have a market price," Inter Press Service reports, noting Ban "admitted it is not acceptable that poor slum-dwellers pay five or even 10 times as much for their water as wealthy residents of the same cities."

5 Aug 2011

Economist examines cholera, possible solutions to mitigate disease

The Economist in its current issue examines cholera, including the disease's history, current outbreaks, and research into vaccines and sanitation.

30 Jul 2011

U.N. officials reiterate clean drinking water and sanitation are human rights issues

One year after the U.N. General Assembly "adopted a resolution declaring that safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right," top U.N. officials on Wednesday "stressed the need to realize the human right to water and sanitation, stating that it is critical not only to a life of dignity but also to achieving progress in the areas such as poverty reduction, boosting child health and combating diseases," the U.N. News Centre reports.

29 Jul 2011

Rwandan government pushing for sanitation facilities in every household

Rwanda "is one of only four countries in Africa which look set to achieve Millennium Development Goal 7 to ensure environmental sustainability, which includes halving the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation," Inter Press Service reports in an article examining hygiene and sanitation in the country.

26 Jul 2011

Nearly 720,000 children are at risk of death across the Horn of Africa

With famine now declared in two regions of Southern Somalia and malnutrition rates at emergency levels in arid and semi-arid regions across the Horn of Africa, nearly 720,000 children are at risk of death without urgent assistance.

25 Jul 2011

Cholera hits Haiti again

Cholera the bacterial disease that rapidly leads to diarrhea and dehydration and kills millions worldwide ravaged Haiti last fall and has spread quickly to all regions of the Caribbean country. With the rainy season now in progress, clinics across the country are again bustling with seriously ill patients.

24 Jul 2011

Sanitation pioneer earns Roll of Honour Award for lifetime service in Kigali, Rwanda

Professor Sandy Cairncross has received a unique honour from the governments of Africa in recognition of his major contribution to improving the health and well-being of Africans through his three decades of work to improve sanitation and hygiene across the continent.

22 Jul 2011

Gates Foundation announces sanitation grants, calls for toilet innovation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced on Tuesday that it plans to invest millions of dollars in projects aimed at improving sanitation in the developing world, the Guardian reports.

21 Jul 2011

New technology for processing human waste in developing countries

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded Delft University of Technology, a grant to 'Reinvent the toilet'. Aim of this project is to develop new technology for processing human waste without links to water, energy, or sewer lines, and at costs affordable to the poor in developing countries.

20 Jul 2011

Measles epidemic grips Kenya and Ethiopia

The UNICEF announced Friday that children in Kenya and Ethiopia are at risk of a measles epidemic. Ethiopia has had more than 17,584 cases of measles in 2011, with 114 deaths. The WHO urges measles vaccination of young children to combat the situation.

18 Jul 2011

U.N., Africa Union appeal to international community for aid to fight drought in Horn of Africa

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday in Geneva during a news conference with reporters "called on countries to urgently support United Nations agencies in their efforts to respond to the crisis in the Horn of Africa, where more than 11 million people are in need of life-saving assistance as they face the worst drought in decades," the U.N. News Centre reports.

14 Jul 2011

Tips for preventing foodborne illness at home or while eating out

Dr. Melvin Pascall, an associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at The Ohio State University, has spent the past 15 years working to improve food safety in areas ranging from packaging to food service cleaning practices.

11 Jul 2011

USAID's Nairobi-based DART to expedite additional U.S. humanitarian aid to the Horn of Africa

In the wake of the worst drought in the Horn of Africa since the 1950s, more than 10 million people—primarily in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia—are in need of emergency assistance. In response to this urgent need, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is standing up a Nairobi-based Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to help expedite additional U.S. Government humanitarian aid to the Horn.

8 Jul 2011

Puerto Rico reports first cholera case linked to outbreak in Dominican Republic

Puerto Rico has reported its first case of cholera imported by a recent traveler to the island of Hispaniola, where a cholera outbreak began in October, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

7 Jul 2011

Girl's Book Project delivers critical information about puberty and health

The onset of puberty is a critical moment for reaching girls with health messages and information, and the stakes are particularly high in countries where the HIV/AIDS epidemic rages and where threats to female reproductive health abound. Yet to date, the healthcare community in low-resource countries has tended to neglect this opportunity and instead concentrate efforts on young women who are older and of reproductive age.

30 Jun 2011

UNICEF representative warns Filipino children displaced after flooding face disease risk

About 450,000 children, displaced by severe flooding in the southern Philippines, could face an outbreak of diarrhea and pneumonia, Vanessa Tobin, UNICEF's representative in the Philippines, said on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reports.

28 Jun 2011