Understanding Disease Transmission and Health Risks through Water Systems

This presentation discussed how an integrated approach contributes to the understanding of health risks in water systems, mainly on freshwater systems, looking at drivers, pressures, state, impact, and responses, citing a few examples of innovative monitoring and modeling used in forecasting and preventing health risks and the spread of diseases.

International Online Conference to Address Water-related Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) under the COVID-19 Pandemic

As the world experiences the COVID-19 crisis, water-related disasters remain as imminent now as before COVID-19. People worldwide have been affected, and thousands of people have lost their lives due to water-related disasters, which are increasingly frequent. In light of the current pandemic situation, and complications among disaster risk reduction (DRR) emergency responses and the COVID-19 health care responses exacerbate the challenges. They could magnify negative impacts in certain countries and cities.

ADB WASH and health webinar: WaterAid’s health systems strengthening approach for WASH in healthcare facilities

This presentation discussed a health systems-strengthening approach to improve WASH in health care facilities; hand and environmental hygiene behavior change in health care facilities; and how WASH links to health security and antimicrobial resistance. It also highlighted the progression of WASH interventions at the global level, particularly noting the milestone of the 2019 approval of the WASH in health care facilities resolution at the World Health Assembly.

Vanita Suneja

Vanita has over 25 years of experience in the development sector. She has been working on a wide range of issues including water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), small holder agriculture, forest governance, rural livelihoods, women’s land rights, renewable energy, climate change, extractives and mining. She is currently leading the policy and advocacy work with WaterAid at the South Asia regional level. Prior to WaterAid, Vanita worked with Oxfam India and the Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development in New Delhi.

Virginia Newton-Lewis

Virginia specializes in water security as it relates to WASH. She has worked on a wide range of water issues including food security, irrigation, water resources management, and flood risk management. She holds a PhD from the University of East Anglia, where she explored the topic of agricultural-to-urban water allocation.