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The authors investigate the relationship between the presence of in-home piped water and wastewater services and hospitalization rates for respiratory tract, skin, and gastrointestinal tract infections in rural Alaska.
HENNESSY, T.W. et al. (2008): The Relationship Between In-Home Water Service and the Risk of Respiratory Tract, Skin, and Gastrointestinal Tract Infections Among Rural Alaska Natives. In: American Journal of Public Health: Volume 98 , 2072-2078. URL [Accessed: 02.08.2018]As part of a project endorsed by the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG), this paper presents the results of a survey about the current status of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in the Arctic region. It came out that many remote Arctic and sub-Arctic residents lack WASH services, and these disparities are often not reflected in national summary data. Environmental changes impacting WASH services were reported by respondents in every Arctic nation. Participants at an international conference co-sponsored by SDWG reviewed these results and provided suggestions for next steps to improve health of Arctic residents.
BRESSLER, J.M. and HENNESSY, T.W. (2018): Results of an Arctic Council survey on water and sanitation services in the Arctic. In: International Journal of Circumpolar Health: Volume 77 , 1. URL [Accessed: 02.08.2018] PDFThe four Nordic cities included in the present study form a gradient both in climate, from oceanographic temperate in Tórshavn at 620 N to arctic in Tromsø at 69.70N, and in population, from less than 6000 inhabitants in Sisimiut to close to 120 000 in Reykjavík. The cities are different and far apart but products from the sea has been mainstay to the economy and societal development. Thus, the management of sewage from the municipalities must maintain a clean and healthy marine environment.
DAM, M. AUOUNSSON, G. POULSEN, H. BERG, I. KRISTENSEN, L. STENERSEN, J. JOENSEN, F. DAVIDSEN, V. PETERSEN, S. (2017): Micropollutants in Wastewater in four Arctic Cities - is the Treatment sufficient?. Copenhagen: TemaNord URL [Accessed: 02.08.2018]Critical online article about scientists testing feces and urine in wastewater to find trends in illegal drug use.
FARAH, T. (2017): The Plan to Test Cities’ Sewage for Drugs is a new Form of Mass Surveillance. Motherboard URL [Accessed: 02.08.2018]This paper is a review of clinical data in Kivalina, Alaska. The authors obtained washeteria closure dates from 2003 to July 2009 and defined 7 day closure as prolonged. They received de-identified data on all Kivalina clinic visits from 2003 to 2009 and selected visits with ICD-9 diagnosis codes for respiratory, skin, or gastrointestinal infection; subsequent same patient/same illness-category visits within 14 days were excluded. The authors compared annual visit rates, for all ages combined, before (20032004) and after (20052009) the ‘‘2004’’ storm.
THOMAS, T.K. et al. (2013): Washeteria closures, infectious disease and community health in rural Alaska. A review of clinical data in Kivalina, Alaska. In: International Journal of Circumpolar Health: Volume 72 URL [Accessed: 02.08.2018] PDFOnline article about US researchers that uncover trends in infectious diseases through analyzing wastewater samples.
KRISCH, J. A. (2014): What our Sewage can teach us. The New York Times URL [Accessed: 02.08.2018]This article seeks to present the latest evidence on the provision of adequate sanitation, to analyse why more progress has not been made, and to suggest strategies to improve the impact of sanitation, highlighting the role of the health sector. It also aims to show that sanitation work to improve health, once considered the exclusive domain of engineers, now requires the involvement of social scientists, behaviour change experts, health professionals, and, vitally, individual people.
DUNCAN, M. et al. (2010): Sanitation and Health. In: PLoS Medicine: Volume 7 URL [Accessed: 02.08.2018] PDFIn 2017 this Europe-wide study, which includes around 60 cities in total, revealed a picture of distinct geographical and temporal patterns of drug use across European cities. Twenty one cities have participated in at least five of the annual wastewater monitoring campaigns since 2011, which allows for seven-year time trend analysis of drug consumption based on wastewater testing. Following the success of this initial study, comparable studies were undertaken over the following four years, covering up to 19 European countries in 2017.
Johnson introduces the "Special Issue" increasing the evidence-base for informed, effective and collaborative research strategies in the North.
JOHNSON, R.M. (2012): Addressing challenges in participatory research partnerships in the North. opening a conversation. In: International Journal of Circumpolar Health: Volume 71 URL [Accessed: 02.08.2018] PDFThis online article summarizes the study of NEWTON, R. J. et al., 2015: Sewage Reflects the Microbiomes of Human Populations, In: mBio, Vol. 6 (2).
PENNISIS, E. (2015): Pollution, Human Health tracked with Sewage Microbes. Science Online URL [Accessed: 02.08.2018]In this review, the authors highlight relevant data and describe an initiative through the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group to characterize the extent of WASH services in Arctic nations, the related health indicators and climate-related vulnerabilities to WASH services. With this as a baseline, efforts to build collaborations across the Arctic will be undertaken to promote innovations that can extend the benefits of water and sanitation services to all residents.
HENNESSY, T.W. and BRESSLER, J.M. (2016): Improving health in the Arctic region through safe and affordable access to household running water and sewer services. an Arctic Council initiative. International Journal of Circumpolar Health URL [Accessed: 02.08.2018] PDFPresentation held by Wayne Parker, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Ontario.