A new book, Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Environment: Challenges, Interventions and Preventive Measures, a Wiley-Blackwell collaboration with Horizon International, was announced today by Wiley-Blackwell.

The drought and famine once again blighting the Horn of Africa brings with it an unwelcome reminder that for all of mankind’s achievements we are yet to eradicate the scourge of poverty or to provide clean water, sanitation or basic health care for the world’s most desperate people.

In her new title, Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Environment: Challenges, Interventions and Preventive Measures,  Janine Selendy explores the close relationship between sanitation, clean water supply and the environment to outline strategies for the prevention and eradication of water and sanitation-related diseases.

Written by experts from the fields of public health, medicine, epidemiology, environmental health, climate change, environmental engineering, and population research, this authoritative volume provides a thorough understanding of the interconnection among many factors linked to water related diseases, sanitation, and hygiene. It is brought together by Selendy who founded Horizon International, a non-profit organisation based at Yale University, in 1976.

This book presents the most complete treatment possible of the conditions responsible for water and sanitation related diseases, the pathogens and their biology, the morbidity and mortality resulting from lack of safe water and sanitation, the distribution of these diseases, and the conditions that must be met to reduce or eradicate them.

The publication covers access to and the maintenance of clean water, and includes guidelines for the safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater along with examples of solutions; this is presented with an emphasis on what is actually achievable in the real world, considering that 2.6 billion individuals have no toilets and 1.2 billion people are exposed to water-related illness from their drinking water.

“Horizon seeks to find and advance solutions thereby supporting ideas and initiatives that aim to inform and inspire positive action. We use peer-reviewed science and case studies from affected areas to examine interrelated issues including the environment and public health,” said Selendy. “The comprehensive chapters in Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Environment reveal the interdisciplinary approach which is essential to finding answers to some of the world’s most urgent problems.”

Divided into eight comprehensive sections that address the concerns from an international perspective, this volume covers:

The significance of the close relationships among water access and quality, lack of adequate sanitation and hygiene, and the relationship of human activity to the diseases

• Means of accessing clean water and preventing contamination of water
• The range of sanitation and hygiene measures available to reduce disease
• The broad extent, variety, and ramifications of environmental factors
• Ameliorating conditions and preventive measures to reduce pollutants found in ground and surface waters
• The adverse health impacts of water pollution, dam construction, irrigation development, and flood control
• Preventive measures and innovative, successful solutions are presented throughout, as well as featured in more detail in a special section at the end of the book. This section highlights examples from a diversity of locations in both developed and developing countries, focusing on what has been achieved in the control of water related diseases—and what can be done if the multi-factorial approach in this book is followed.

The accompanying DVDs, as well as a related websites, augment this vital information by means of case studies and articles, providing guidance for possible action on local and national as well as international levels. 

The DVDs accompanying this book present:

• 16 videos and 4 short-clip videos, totaling nearly 4 hours of supplemental content
• 525 illustrations, tables, and maps from the text.
• Additional text content and images not found in the book

“Meeting water and sanitation needs, coupled with protection of the environment and prevention of pollutants, is essential to every effort to improve the health and living conditions of billions of people,” said Selendy.  “Meeting these needs is fundamental, not only to effectively diminish incidence of diseases that afflict a third or more of the people of the world, but also to improve education and economic well-being and elevate billions of individuals out of vicious cycles of poverty.”

"The preventive measures and solutions presented here provide guidance for possible action on the local, national and international levels,” concluded Selendy. “The problems of water quality and related diseases are international and they are complex, but the research represented here demonstrates how collaborative science can help us unravel the complex and build a better world.”

Updates and additional resources will be posted on a companion website: www.wiley.com/go/selendy/water and on the Horizon Solutions Site: www.solutionssite.org.

The publication is available from many sources including directly from Wiley at:

  http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470527854.html.

Wiley provides a chance to read an excerpt:

• Read Excerpt: Chapter (PDF)
• Read Excerpt: Index (PDF)
• Read Excerpt: Table of Contents (PDF)

Also available as e-books

ISBN: 978-0-470-52785-6

Wiley offers special prices for bulk sales and greatly reduced prices for purchases of the book in developing countries.  The information is available “Request Pricing for Special Sales.” 

Notes:

About the Author:

Janine Selendy is Founder, Chairman, President and Publisher of Horizon International, a non-profit organization based at Yale University, which addresses health, environment and disease issues worldwide.  She also serves as principal editor and publisher of Horizon's web-based Solutions Site and oceans and coral reefs site.   She is executive producer of more than 20 television documentaries, many of which have won awards and have been broadcast in many countries.  This publication originated from a syllabus on water and sanitation she prepared at the invitation of Yale School of Public Health which was the basis of subsequent lectures she gave at both Yale and at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. She is a generalist whose early medical work included a discovery while doing cancer research and co-authoring a paper for the Journal of Diabetes. Her background in medical, scientific, environmental and other areas provides her with an appreciation of the interconnectedness of many subjects.

About Wiley-Blackwell:

Wiley-Blackwell is the international scientific, technical, medical and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, with strengths in every major academic and professional field and partnerships with many of the world’s leading societies. Wiley-Blackwell publishes over 1,500 peer-reviewed journals as well as 1,500+ new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols. For more information, please visit www.wiley.com

The Carter Center has posted PDFs of four chapters from the book along with the Wiley flier for the book on its website at http://www.cartercenter.org/news/publications/health/experts.html.

See the related article on the Horizon International website: Jan 05, 2012  Britain to Help Carter Center Secure Worldwide Eradication of Worm Disease

Reviews:

"In 2010, the United Nations recognised the human right to water and sanitation. This was a major achievement and a huge step forward in the fight to prevent waterborne disease. Janine Selendy has produced a critical tool to help us take the next step forward in understanding the nature and causes of water and sanitation related diseases and in finding real solutions. The human right to water and sanitation is only as good as its implementation. This book leads the way." (Maude Barlow, Senior advisor on water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly 2008-09, January 2012)

"This book will promote integrated studies/research on water, sanitation-related diseases and the environment and will contribute to theoretical and practical respects of interventions and preventive measures, and therefore lead to a better life quality - for millions." (Yaqian Zhao, 2011 Centre for Water Resources Research, University College Dublin, 1 December 2011)

"Written by experts from the fields of public health, medicine, epidemiology, environmental health, climate change, environmental engineering, and population research, this authoritative volume provides a thorough understanding of the interconnection among many factors linked to water related diseases, sanitation, and hygiene." (Miss Eco Glam, 1 October 2011)

“Congratulations on your book. This is a wonderful achievement and I am sure will encourage students to enter the field of global environmental health.” (Michael H. Merson, M.D., Founding Director, Duke Global Health Institute, Wolfgang Joklik Professor of Global Health, and Professor of Medicine, Community and Family Medicine, and Public Policy at Duke University and Vice Chancellor for Duke-National University of Singapore.)

“Great Resource: This book is an excellent compilation of papers by authoritative authors on crucial environmental issues today. As the author of one chapter, I may be a bit biased, but I can say without equivocation that the authors of the other chapters have written excellent summaries of the environmental issues they address. Janine Selendy, editor of this volume, has done a masterful job of planning this volume and putting it together. Congratulations to her on a job well-done. This is a valuable book for anyone wishing to obtain an overview of today's environmental issues.” (Edward Dodge, M.D., M.P.H., Visiting Lecturer, Faculty of Health Sciences, Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe and Courtesy Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Community Health and Family Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine)

“Valuable Contribution: In order to responsibly use and protect this vast resource it is imperative to understand and appreciate the array of issues involved. This book provides a comprehensive view of all of the aspects regarding the earth's water supply. Janine Selendy has put together an excellent collection of pieces covering these topics exploring them in depth. I gained a great deal of insight into a variety subjects that I was not very familiar with prior to reading this book. It is an honor to be included as an author with such an impressive group of people. (Gretchen Welfinger-Smith, M.S. Institute for Health and the Environment, School of Public Health, State University at Albany)