Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Public Health
Effects of Salinity on Menstrual and Reproductive Health: Insights from Coastal and Non-Coastal Areas of Bangladesh.
Published: 2025-04-20
Subjects: Public Health
AbstractBackground: Salinity intrusion in coastal regions of Bangladesh is a growing concern due to its potential impact on public health, particularly reproductive health among women. Exposure to saline water may contribute to a variety of health challenges, including menstrual irregularities and pregnancy complications.Objective: This study aimed to assess the reproductive health challenges [...]
Evaluation of climatic and non-climatic influence on malaria prevalence in the Upper River Region of The Gambia
Published: 2025-04-20
Subjects: Public Health
Despite the scale-up of intervention, malaria remains a burden in the Upper River Region of The Gambia. Climate changes and non-climatic conditions can substantially influence malaria prevalence, and further affect the coverage of preventive interventions. This work aimed at exploring the different climatic and non-climatic risk factors associated with malaria. A descriptive research method using [...]
Field to Flight: Migration Dynamics Amidst Climate/Weather Driven Crop Yield Fluctuations in Burkina Faso
Published: 2025-04-20
Subjects: Public Health
Climate change is anticipated to significantly affect human migration, driven by factors such as crop failures, rising sea levels, and water insecurity. The African continent is particularly vulnerable due to its population's limited adaptive capacity. However, collecting migration data is challenging, especially in regions lacking reliable demographic and epidemiological census data. [...]
Integrating Climate Services into Health Systems for Nutrition Security: A Scoping Review
Published: 2025-04-20
Subjects: Public Health
Climate information services (CIS) are science-based tools used to inform decision-making in climate-sensitive sectors, such as agriculture, water resources, energy, disaster risk reduction and health. These CIS rely on high-quality climate and weather data in order to predict and prepare for specific extreme weather or climate events such as droughts and floods. Within the health sector, most [...]
Levels of Heavy Metals and Associated Human Health Risk Assessment at the Upper Genale-Dawa River Basin of Ethiopia
Published: 2025-04-20
Subjects: Public Health
This study investigates the concentration of heavy metals in the Upper Genale Dawa River Basin to assess water quality and potential health risks. The primary objective was to quantify the levels of heavy metals, and to evaluate the associated risks to human health, particularly concerning non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic effects. Water samples were purposely collected from 24 sites in the River [...]
Socioecological drivers of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) choices: A qualitative analysis of maternal perspectives in northwest Ecuador
Published: 2025-04-20
Subjects: Public Health
Household-level water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions do not always achieve the expected health benefits. Research that considers WASH within a socioecological framework where climatic, infrastructural, economic, and individual factors are interconnected in influencing maternal choices can inform more effective WASH interventions. To understand WASH preferences and priorities under [...]
Waterlogging, Health and Healthcare Access in Southwest Bangladesh
Published: 2025-04-20
Subjects: Public Health
Waterlogging, a form of stagnant flooding, is increasingly affecting southwest Bangladesh and is expected to intensify with the expansion of shrimp farming and climate change, contributing to environmental degradation. However, its impacts on health, health service utilisation and household health expenditures remain poorly understood. We conducted a quantitative study between August and [...]
Planetary health security?: critical scoping review of conceptual linkages between ‘health security’ and ‘planetary health’
Published: 2025-02-28
Subjects: Public Health
Background ‘Health security’ — the subjection of health to ‘security’ frameworks — and ‘planetary health’— the study of human health impacts of the degradation of planetary ecosystems — have emerged in the last decades as prominent global health fields. However, limited literature connects them, particularly incorporating critical perspectives. We explored interactions between these approaches [...]
Rethinking Environmental Sustainability in the Operating Room: Beyond the Reusability Assumption for Surgical Instruments
Published: 2025-02-21
Subjects: Environmental Public Health, Medicine and Health Sciences, Public Health
Addressing the climate crisis is an urgent global priority, yet the healthcare sector continues to face significant challenges in implementing long-term green solutions. The sector accounts for 4.4% of global carbon emissions, with an even greater impact of 7% in the Netherlands. The latest Dutch report- Barometer Groene OK- proposes ten key measures to reduce the healthcare carbon footprint, [...]
Investigating the recommendations and governmental actions to address the emerging risks of vector-borne diseases in Canada’s changing climate: A scoping review
Published: 2024-12-04
Subjects: Public Health
Climate change is expected to increase the risks associated with vector-borne diseases, and its implications for human health are already observed across Canada. The objective of this review was to investigate the recommended adaptation strategies related to the risks associated with vector-borne diseases and examine how various levels of government in Canada are executing these recommended [...]
Improving an Integrative Framework of Health System Resilience and Climate Change: Lessons from Bangladesh and Haiti
Published: 2024-10-10
Subjects: Public Health
The analysis of health system resilience has progressed significantly, yet there remains a wide diversity in the conceptual frameworks used. The ClimHB conceptual framework, developed in 2019, integrates two influential models: the Levesque model of healthcare access and DFID's resilience framework. Designed to study health system resilience in response to climate-induced events, the ClimHB [...]
From bench to beach: Assessing the reliability of community-based qPCR monitoring for recreational water quality
Published: 2024-10-09
Subjects: Public Health
Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is increasingly used in recreational water quality monitoring, yet the temporal variability of indicator concentrations as well as the breadth of locations and biological hazards to be monitored continues to present a challenge. Participatory approaches such as community-based monitoring (CBM) are valued in environmental research but the potential for [...]
The impacts of climate hazards on sanitation experiences of people with disabilities in Bangladesh: A mixed-methods study
Published: 2024-09-18
Subjects: Public Health
Human-induced climate change, marked by frequent and severe climate hazards, damages water and sanitation facilities, limiting safe and independent access for people with disabilities. In Bangladesh, where 8% of the population has a disability, the challenges are heightened by climate hazards, including cyclones and floods. Evidence on how these hazards affect the sanitation experiences of [...]
Heatwaves and Hostilities - Can rising temperatures lead to lasting peace?
Published: 2024-09-13
Subjects: Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering, Earth Sciences, Environmental Public Health, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, International and Area Studies, Nature and Society Relations, Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering, Other Earth Sciences, Public Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences
In this paper, we are going to explore the complex relationship between climate change and global peace. Climate change and wars have a reciprocal relationship. As the war fuels climate change, the latter can catalyze the war too. Through the analysis of the ongoing conflicts across the world, recent technological advancements, and the globalized nature of the world, we will review different [...]
Elevated Methane in Massachusetts and Rhode Island Homes Using Fracked Gas
Published: 2024-09-11
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health, Public Health
We surveyed 197 Massachusetts and Rhode Island houses ranging in building style and age to test whether homes served by fracked gas have higher indoor methane concentrations ([CH4]) than in homes without gas. The answer is clearly “Yes”. From basements and single-floor slab homes to third floors of triple deckers, indoor [CH4] in households with gas service was significantly elevated over outdoor [...]