The Transition to Sustainable Health and Development: Economic, Policy and Society

A special issue of World (ISSN 2673-4060).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 2 August 2024 | Viewed by 1159

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Science, Engineering and Health Studies, College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Interests: sustainable development; health and environment; green education; systems approach; health promotion; sustainability education

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to announce a new Special Issue “The Transition to Sustainable Health and Development: Economic, Policy and Society” of the journal World. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations have prompted a series of research studies and initiatives aiming to move towards a sustainable society. However, global challenges such as climate change, hazardous chemical wastes and environmental pollution are still posing serious threats to public health systems and human well-being. For example, climate change has led to emerging food security and safety issues while increasing pollutions have caused significant deterioration of environmental quality, influencing human health and psychological well-being, as well as societal and economic development in a variety of ways. In recent years, tremendous efforts have been made on the development and advancement of green chemistry and technology to address the grand challenges. There have also been urgent calls for the assessment of environmental pollution caused by microplastics and its emerging effects on public health. In addition, increasing studies have investigated both direct and indirect policy measures to ensure global food security, as well as for the regulations and management of hazardous chemicals, which are essential for sustainable health systems and development. Furthermore, to move towards a sustainable society, education will play a pivotal role and research studies in the context of education for sustainable development are necessary for nurturing the next generation of future leaders to take environmental impacts into consideration in different industries and businesses.

In this Special Issue, we aim to collect high-quality studies related to sustainable health and development. Innovations across disciplines with regard to SDGs are welcomed. In particular, we welcome studies attempting to address global challenges such as climate change, hazardous chemical wastes and environmental pollution. We are also interested in contributions that provide insights on how education initiatives and practice can lead to a sustainable society. This collection of studies is expected to help formulate solutions to address the grand challenges and develop interdisciplinary research directions for advancement to a sustainable world. Empirical or review studies, as well as other acceptable article types, are welcome. Contributions may include (but are not limited to) the following themes:

  • Climate change;
  • Chemical pollution;
  • Environmental issues;
  • Education for sustainable development;
  • Food security and safety;
  • Global challenges;
  • Green chemistry and technology;
  • Green education;
  • Green initiatives;
  • Hazardous chemicals management;
  • Hazardous waste;
  • Healthcare waste;
  • Plastic pollution;
  • Pollution control;
  • Sustainable agriculture;
  • Sustainable development goals;
  • Sustainable education;
  • Sustainable health and well-being;
  • Water pollution.

Dr. Wang-Kin Chiu
Prof. Dr. Hon-Ming Lam
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. World is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 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

  • climate change
  • education for sustainable development
  • food security
  • green education
  • green environment
  • green initiatives
  • chemical pollution
  • sustainability
  • sustainable health
  • sustainable society
  • systems

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

21 pages, 1494 KiB  
Review
Plastic and Micro/Nanoplastic Pollution in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges, Impacts, and Solutions
by Edith Dube and Grace Emily Okuthe
World 2024, 5(2), 325-345; https://doi.org/10.3390/world5020018 - 15 May 2024
Viewed by 493
Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa faces increasing levels of plastic production and importation, unregulated usage, and inadequate waste management systems. This region’s harsh conditions often lead to plastic breaking down into microplastics and nanoplastics. This review explores the abundance of micro/nanoplastics across different environmental mediums, such [...] Read more.
Sub-Saharan Africa faces increasing levels of plastic production and importation, unregulated usage, and inadequate waste management systems. This region’s harsh conditions often lead to plastic breaking down into microplastics and nanoplastics. This review explores the abundance of micro/nanoplastics across different environmental mediums, such as surface waters, sediments, and aquatic organisms, in sub-Saharan African countries. It also highlights knowledge gaps concerning the region’s abundance of micro/nanoplastics. The effects of plastics and micro/nanoplastics on food production, water quality, health, and the environment are discussed. Strategies to address the challenges of plastic pollution are proposed. Finally, the review concludes with future perspectives for addressing the ongoing challenges of plastic waste management in sub-Saharan Africa. The materials for this study were sourced from published articles on Scopus, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and additional platforms, including reports and various press releases, using keywords such as plastic waste, micro/nano-plastic, sub-Saharan Africa, toxicity, and circular economy. Articles were initially screened by reviewing abstracts, followed by a thorough reading of full papers to identify relevant studies. Key information was extracted from these selected articles and incorporated into this review. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop