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Inclusive Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health (WASH2): Towards a Sustainable and Healthy Society

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Health, Well-Being and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 January 2022) | Viewed by 23551

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Environmental Sciences, Asian University for Women, 20/A, M M Ali Road, Chittagong 4000, Bangladesh
Interests: wastewater/greywater treatment and management; global water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), environmental health; solid waste management; sustainable sanitation; resource and energy recovery; community-based research; water resources management; disaster/hazard risk reduction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom
Interests: urban water demand; water security; water services
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Many communities around the world are struggling to meet WASH challenges: water, sanitation, and hygiene-borne hazards, risks, and vulnerabilities, including a range of diseases, water scarcity, depletion, and pollution. Although WASH is sometimes overlooked by health or development researchers, at present, water, sanitation, hygiene, and health (WASH2) is a global concern and priority area in the international development sector. Although the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) included improved drinking water supply, water quality and safety are still very precarious in many regions of the world, including Asia. Globally, as many as 700 million still rely on unsafe drinking water sources such as rivers, streams, ponds, unprotected open wells, and poorly protected springs. Additionally, even some populations who are using “improved” drinking water sources are not consuming safe water. Improved sanitation facilities for one billion people need to be achieved by 2030 to meet the sanitation target set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The United Nations estimates that proper hygiene and safe water supply could save millions of children a year. The extent and impact of sanitation inadequacy are rooted in social, economic, political, and ecological realities that are particularly complex in the global south. It is crosscut by gender norms, cultural beliefs, and income poverty.

Access to water and sanitation for all is Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, the SDGs bring a renewed commitment to achieving universal access to safe water and sanitation by 2030, many marginalized groups are still excluded from the WASH2 services, plans, and programs in low-, middle-, and high-income countries around the world which may be challenging to develop a sustainable and healthy society around the world. Access to safe water and sanitation are fundamental human rights, as recognized by the United Nations in 2010, though effective enforcement mechanisms are lacking. Moreover, there is an increasing awareness of the complex intersections between different SDGs, for example, between SDG6 (clean water and sanitation) and the “equality SDGs” (SDG5—Gender Equality and SDG10—Reducing Inequality), meaning that the principles of non-discrimination and equality in access to water and sanitation programs and policies should be present at all levels.

This Special Issue calls for original research on those excluded people who may be systematically ignored from WASH2 services, initiatives, and programs due to poverty, power (both local and international), social exclusion, and other hidden factors in society. It will also focus on individual inequalities such as gender and disability, which can lead to the unsafe condition of those people related to WASH2. Moreover, the SI will uncover the inequalities in some groups in the society, such as caste or religion, who face challenges in accessing WASH2 services. Politicospatial inequalities such as informal settlements/slums or remote/rural places could also enhance unsafe WASH2 services in many parts of the world. We also call for papers examining the challenges faced by groups such as the homeless, indigenous people/First Nations communities/aboriginal people, and farmers who are systematically excluded from WASH2 services, plan, programs, and initiatives in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. Critical review papers with the new dimension will also be considered for this Special Issue.


Dr. Sayed Mohammad Nazim Uddin
Prof. Dr. Chad Staddon
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Global Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health (WASH2)
  • Social exclusion
  • Marginalization
  • Global South and North
  • Inequalities and insecurity
  • Global health or international health or one health research
  • Risks, hazards and vulnerabilities
  • Homelessness
  • Poverty and power
  • Service delivery
  • WASH2 and women
  • Indigenous/First Nations/Aboriginal people
  • WASH2 system approach
  • Community-based research
  • Epidemiology
  • Health policy
  • Environmental health
  • Urban political ecology
  • Humanitarian WASH2

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

38 pages, 4191 KiB  
Article
Sanitation in Mexico: An Overview of Its Realization as a Human Right
by Vanesa García-Searcy, Mariana Villada-Canela, María Concepción Arredondo-García, Marisol Anglés-Hernández, María Candelaria Pelayo-Torres and Luis Walter Daesslé
Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2707; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052707 - 25 Feb 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4902
Abstract
Adequate sanitation is essential for health, human well-being, the preservation of water resources, biodiversity, and the full enjoyment of human rights. Sanitation is a human right, and although it is linked to the human right to water (HRW), it has specific characteristics that [...] Read more.
Adequate sanitation is essential for health, human well-being, the preservation of water resources, biodiversity, and the full enjoyment of human rights. Sanitation is a human right, and although it is linked to the human right to water (HRW), it has specific characteristics that deserve particular attention. These components are (1) availability; (2) quality; (3) physical accessibility; (4) affordability; (5) acceptability; (6) equality and non-discrimination; (7) government management and inter-institutional coordination; (8) access to information and participation; and (9) environmental protection. These components enable the analysis of other aspects that may not be fully considered from the traditional sanitation approach. This research aims to analyze the context of the realization of the human right to sanitation (HRS) in Mexico, for a future comprehensive assessment. The study was conducted through documentary and national news coverage research. It concluded that there are still significant challenges to realizing this human right in Mexico. Findings suggest that besides the infrastructure and pollution difficulties, there are other problems like physical and economic access to sanitation for the vulnerable population, inequality between urban and rural areas, the lack of maintenance work of sanitation infrastructure, and the lack of effective coordination between the authorities responsible for sanitation. Full article
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13 pages, 2741 KiB  
Article
Investigation on Recycling Dry Toilet Generated Blackwater by Anaerobic Digestion: From Energy Recovery to Sanitation
by Siqi Zuo, Xiaoqin Zhou, Zifu Li, Xuemei Wang and Longbin Yu
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4090; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084090 - 7 Apr 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2726
Abstract
Anaerobic digestion (AD) has been widely adapted for blackwater treatment, however, the effect of water-conserving toilet generated blackwater on the AD process is still unknown. In this study, the anaerobic digestion process of dry toilet generated blackwater was investigated by means [...] Read more.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) has been widely adapted for blackwater treatment, however, the effect of water-conserving toilet generated blackwater on the AD process is still unknown. In this study, the anaerobic digestion process of dry toilet generated blackwater was investigated by means of a biomethane potential test. It was demonstrated that anaerobic digestion was inhibited and then adapted because of a high total ammonium nitrogen (TAN) level (3673.3 mg/L). The start-up period was 14.04 days and the biomethane potential of dry toilet blackwater was 402.36 mLCH4/gVS (55 days, 38 °C). Inhabitation and adaptation could be described as the increase of free ammonia nitrogen content and acetic acid concentration, followed by an enhancement of the relative abundance of acetic acid-type methanogens (from 33.53–61.52%). The main pathogen in dry toilet blackwater fermentation broth, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, kept multiplying in the first 8 days and then stabilized at a higher level than that of the beginning. This work showed the self-adjustment process and pathogen dynamics of dry toilet blackwater anaerobic digestion and highlights the significance of dry toilet blackwater characteristics when designing and maintaining anaerobic digestion sanitary treatment and reuse systems. Full article
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26 pages, 3166 KiB  
Article
Drinking Water Security Challenges in Rohingya Refugee Camps of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
by Mehereen Akhter, Sayed Mohammad Nazim Uddin, Nazifa Rafa, Sanjida Marium Hridi, Chad Staddon and Wayne Powell
Sustainability 2020, 12(18), 7325; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187325 - 7 Sep 2020
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 14596
Abstract
About a million Rohingyas have fled due to the ethnic cleansing in Myanmar and sought refuge in Bangladesh. The refugees are located in temporary settlements on hilly areas of Cox’s Bazar with inadequate water and sanitation facilities, giving rise to diseases such as [...] Read more.
About a million Rohingyas have fled due to the ethnic cleansing in Myanmar and sought refuge in Bangladesh. The refugees are located in temporary settlements on hilly areas of Cox’s Bazar with inadequate water and sanitation facilities, giving rise to diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and diarrhea. This exploratory study reports drinking water security challenges in two Rohingya refugee camps within the larger camp network—Camp 2 and the recently-built Camp 4 Extension (Camp 4Ext)—to discover the key everyday issues refugees are facing related to drinking water. Both qualitative and quantitative methods have been applied to determining whether contamination is occurring during the collection, transportation, and storage of drinking water by comparing the water quality at the source with that in storage. The results show that Camp 4Ext is more suited for living in several respects compared with the other camps, attributable to significantly better planning during its construction: there is a lower prevalence of diseases, lower water collection times, higher standards of sanitation, and better access to water sources. This study’s outcomes will help camp authorities and the various agencies working there to provide sustainable water and sanitation interventions to improve the wellness of the Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar. The outcomes will also provide useful information and strategic direction to the global scientific and development communities who are working in refugee camps in other parts of the world, to tackle water security challenges. Full article
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