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. 2008 Oct 1;8(5):451–459. doi: 10.1007/s10652-008-9096-1

Hydro-epidemiology: the emergence of a research agenda

David Kay 1,✉, Roger Falconer 2
PMCID: PMC7087672  PMID: 32214917

Abstract

There is a growing international awareness of the health risks associated with water, and particularly in developing countries. For example: (i) a child dies in Africa every 30s due to malaria—a disease related to stagnant water, (ii) every year flooding causes many deaths world-wide, with infant mortality due to diarrhea from contaminated flood waters posing the biggest threat, and (iii) poor sanitation and its relation to hepatitis A continues to be a serious problem. A revealing measure of the extent of such global problems is that more than half of the hospital beds in the world today are occupied by people with water-related diseases. Addressing these issues mandates an interdisciplinary approach by the world’s scientific and engineering community. In this spirit a workshop was held in Phoenix to provide a forum where epidemiologists, hydraulics researchers and other stakeholders of varied backgrounds (e.g., policy makers, environmental groups etc.) could all participate in a debate on a future agenda for hydro-epidemiology. The principal outcome of the workshop was a significant appreciation of the potential for interdisciplinary research and development in hydro-epidemiology and the major contribution that hydraulics professionals could offer, in partnership with the public health community, in addressing such water related disease control and prevention challenges.

Keywords: Hydraulics, Epidemiology, Water quality, Flooding, Research

Footnotes

This report derives from papers presented at a three day workshop (2–4th December) on Hydroepidemiology held during the Fifth International Symposium on Environmental Hydraulics in Tempe, Arizona, held during December 2007. The invited and submitted papers have been condensed and synthesized to identify current activity and potential research contributions at the interface area between the environmental hydraulics and public health communities.

Contributor Information

David Kay, Email: dvk@aber.ac.uk, http://www.aber.ac.uk/iges/staff/kaydavid.shtml.

Roger Falconer, Email: FalconerRA@Cardiff.ac.uk, http://www.engin.cf.ac.uk/whoswho/profile.asp?RecordNo=19.

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