PLOS Science Wednesday: Hi Reddit, we’re Oliver Cumming, Pinaki
Panigrahi, & Yael Velleman and we’re here to discuss how improved
water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs will impact health outco
Abstract
Hi Reddit, I am Yael Velleman, a Senior Policy Analyst for Health &
Hygiene at WaterAid. My work focuses on the links between water,
sanitation and hygiene and health, and the implications for policy and
programs. I am Pinaki Panigrahi, a professor of Epidemiology,
Pediatrics, and Environmental-Agricultural-and-Occupational Health at
the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and also the Director of the
Center for Global Health and Development at the College of Public Health
at University of Nebraska. My current research focus is to study the
impact of environmental exposures on maternal and child health. I am
Oliver Cumming, a Lecturer in the Environmental Health in Department of
Disease Control at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
My research focuses on access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene and
its impacts on childhood health and development. We recently published
papers in PLOS Medicine examining the impacts of water and sanitation
programs on public health. In a paper titled “From Joint Thinking to
Joint Action: A Call to Action on Improving Water, Sanitation, and
Hygiene for Maternal and Newborn Health,” Yael and Oliver, in
collaboration with several UN and academic agencies and institutions,
set out the case for action on water, sanitation and hygiene for
improving maternal and newborn health, and provided a set of policy
recommendations. In “Risk of Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes among Women
Practicing Poor Sanitation in Rural India: A Population-Based
Prospective Cohort Study,” Pinaki and colleagues found that open
defecation led to more adverse pregnancy outcomes. The study enrolled
more than 600 pregnant women and researchers tracked their sanitation
practice during pregnancy. Those practicing open defecation had higher
number of bad pregnancy outcomes, especially preterm births. Many other
concomitant factors were also studied (apart from defecation practice),
and against conventional wisdom, we did not find socioeconomic status to
play any role in this, but the pregnant woman’s education did. More
research is needed to identify changes that are induced by open
defecation ultimately driving an unhealthy pregnancy. We will be taking
your questions about how WASH impacts global public health today at 1pm
ET (10 am PT, 5 pm UTC) — Ask Us Anything! And don’t forget to follow
Yael on Twitter at @YaelVelleman.