Water Sanitation and Health Newsletter No. 53  - 22   June 2006

 

 

 

 

Guidelines for drinking-water quality, third edition, incorporating first addendum
The World Health Organization (WHO) has today released the web-based version of Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, incorporating the changes of the first addendum. This addendum adds to and supersedes important information in the third edition of the Guidelines.

In response to feedback received, the first addendum includes new and expanded information on the management of emergencies and unforeseen events. This particularly includes more guidance on identifying local actions in response to microbial and chemical water quality problems, such as boil water and water avoidance advisories. Translations into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish will be progressively being made available on the web. 

 Preventing disease through healthy environments: Towards an estimate of the environmental burden of disease. 
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published the  "Preventing Disease Through Healthy Environments - towards an estimate of the environmental burden of disease"  is the most comprehensive and systematic study yet undertaken on how preventable environmental hazards contribute to a wide range of diseases and injuries. By focusing on the environmental causes of disease, and how various diseases are influenced by environmental factors, the analysis breaks new ground in understanding the interactions between environment and health.

Preventing disease through healthy environments: towards an estimate of the environmental burden of disease,  this report estimates that more than 13 million deaths annually are due to preventable environmental causes. Nearly one third of death and disease in the least developed regions is due to environmental causes. Over 40% of deaths from malaria and an estimated 94% of deaths from diarrhoeal diseases, two of the world's biggest childhood killers, could be prevented through better environmental management.

 

 

SOURCE: Journal of Water and Health