Dear Chris,

I am so pleased that you asked me to “post any related texts or videos that are available on the Internet.” There are not only materials available on the Internet, but also the DVDs accompanying Horizon International are being provided for free to libraries and institutions in 139 countries and are now available nearly a third of those countries. I provide those details below.

Regarding those videos available on the Internet, there are several sources.

Both text from the book and videos are in the first article of Horizon International’s series "Realizing Sanitation and Hygiene for All" published on the Solutions Site, at www.solutions-site.org/node/1255 . The article is largely based on and contains many quotes from the book and a couple of the videos from our book’s DVDs as well as from other sources. The videos also in our DVDs are: “Schistosomiasis: Ending the Anguish of a Silent Disease (The Carter Center),” and “The Carter Center's Trachoma Control Program.” This article focuses on the background of the problem and what it means for nearly half the people of the developing world who lack adequate sanitation and hygiene.

Another Horizon International Solutions Site article entitled “Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Environment: Challenges, Interventions and Preventive Measures,” (the same as our book’s title), available at www.solutions-site.org/node/532 , includes the video “Guinea Worm's Last Stand: Southern Sudan.”
Among the sources for free access to the book and DVDs’ content is The Carter Center which has posted PDFs of four chapters from our book along with the Wiley flier for the book on its website at www.cartercenter.org/news/publications/health/experts.html . The chapters are:
Dracunculiasis (Guinea Worm Disease): Case Study of the Effort to Reduce Guinea Worm
Donald R. Hopkins, Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben
Using Kinship Structures in Health Programming: An Example of Preventive Measures and Successful Interventions
Moses N. Katabarwa
Onchocerciasis
Adrian Hopkins, Boakye A. Boatin
Trachoma
Joseph A. Cook, Silvio P. Mariotti.

Horizon International is contributing the book’s DVDs as part of the resources being distributed free of charge by the Global Development And Environment Institute (GDAE) at Tufts University. These multidisciplinary resources, covering diverse topics from anthropology to economics to global health are being sent to thousands of libraries, organizations, and institutions in 139 less-wealthy countries.

Contribution of these learning tools is made possible thanks to an innovative approach founded by Dr. Neva Goodwin, co-director of GDAE. It is called The Social Science Library: Frontier Thinking in Sustainable Development and Human Well-Being (SSL). These contributions come from the GDAE, the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), the WorldWatch Institute, and Horizon International.

As of July 3rd these resources are being used by over 1,300 entities across 60 countries. The DVD contents are described in an insert that accompanies the DVDs with the SSL packets. The descriptive insert with the book’s table of contents is available here (www.solutions-site.org/dvd/insert.pdf). I have attached brief overview about this project, which includes a map, and links to pages to find which countries now have the resources. I have attached descriptive flyers.

In addition to the book and DVDs, there is substantial “Supplementary Material” for the book, more than 45 articles and other resources, thus far, which also provide substance for the popular book. It is published on a Wiley-Blackwell companion Web site for the volume, www.wiley.com/go/selendy/water and on the Horizon International Solutions Site www.solutionssite.org.

Wiley-Blackwell is making our book in print and eBooks as well as individual chapters available for reduced rates for developing countries.

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

Regarding pharmaceuticals, I wish to draw your attention to a chapter in the book, “Other Water Pollutants: Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria,” by Professor Amy Sapkota. She writes, “A variety of antibiotic resistant bacteria, expressing various resistance genes, have been detected in both untreated and treated wastewater.” Among the related sources drawing on our book, is the article, “ Actions Combating Drug Resistance, ” available on the Horizon International Solutions Site at www.solutions-site.org/node/675.

Regarding Urine-Diverting Dry Toilets (UDDTs), a couple of the articles in the Supplementary Material for our book, “I nnovative Toilet Technology for the 21st Century , available at www.solutions-site.org/node/502, and “ Sanitation Innovator Named 2013 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate , available at www.solutions-site.org/node/907. The latter has images such as “Gum trees watered with diluted urine to enhance their growth in school woodlot,” and a very good discussion about urine diversion by the inventor, Dr. Peter Morgan.

Warm wishes,
Janine

Dear Janine,

Thanks for posting info on this important book that you edited.

Does the book include a discussion of Urine-diverting Dry Toilets (UDDTs) as an important and accessible option to prevent disease transmission, water pollution, and other related problems?

Unfortunately, not only finances, but also distance, lack of credit cards, etc., limit my access to this book. Please post any related texts or videos that are available on the internet.

Now that modern metagenomics permit this, it would be important for detailed studies to be done on the impact of water-based sanitation (even with current wastewater treatment) on human and non-human microbiomes and therefore human and ecosystemic health. To begin with, this should take into account the pharmaceuticals and other chemicals that cannot be reliably removed from wastewater and the microbes that are getting resistant to the chemicals used in wastewater treatment.

By the way, the New York Times article's graph of the % childhood stunting versus the number of people who defecate outside per square kilometer is very impressive. (Why weren't more of the dots precisely identified?) This article is important for everyone to read.

Best wishes,
Chris


Note by moderator: see also this related thread where we also discussed the New York Times article:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/26-hea...-indian-muslims#9352

Thank you for your good question. Yes, the book and its accompanying DVDs cover non-communicable diseases including malnutrition and stunting, and naturally occurring and anthropogenic sources of water pollutants. Written by authorities from various related specialties, this book presents the conditions responsible for water- and sanitation-related diseases, the pathogens and their biology, morbidity and mortality resulting from lack of safe water and sanitation, distribution of these diseases, and the conditions that must be met to reduce or eradicate them. Preventive measures and solutions are presented throughout. You can read about the contents of the book and its DVDs from flier: www.solutions-site.org/dvd/insert.pdf and from the Wiley-Blackwell description at www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470527854.html .

Regarding the New York Times article: "Poor Sanitation in India May Afflict Well-Fed Children With Malnutrition", July 15, 2014 (online July 13, 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/world/asia/po...%22RI%3A6%22%7D&_r=0), I wish to share with you that major related coverage is to be found in this book from 2011 and its accompanying DVDs, “Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Environment: Challenges, Interventions and Preventive Measures" a Wiley-Blackwell collaboration with Horizon International at Yale University, written by 59 experts. (I am the editor of this book)

Also, 50 plus articles and other resources published on a Wiley-Blackwell companion Web site for the volume, www.wiley.com/go/selendy/water and on the Horizon International Solutions Site available at www.solutions-site.org . More than 2.4 billion individuals lack adequate sanitation.

Horizon International welcomes your input for its coverage.

Warm wishes,
Janine

Janine, that looks like excellent material, thanks for sharing. Does the book and DVDs approach the subject of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) as mentioned in the NYT article? It seems quite rare to see cognitive defects and diabetes associated with poor sanitation:

Not only does stunting contribute to the deaths of a million children under the age of 5 each year, but those who survive suffer cognitive deficits and are poorer and sicker than children not affected by stunting. They also may face increased risks for adult illnesses like diabetes, heart attacks and strokes.

Unfortunately, things like sanitation and toxic pollution aren't yet on the NCD agenda. Experts still believe NCDs are about diet, exercise and smoking. Yet our diabetes epidemic in the developed world with our flushing toilets is nearly as bad as India. This is one of the factors leading me to believe defecating in water must end. This is not just about open defecation. We're putting too much trust in wastewater treatment.

In 2011, the UN held its first high level meeting on health in a decade about NCDs. Sanitation was not on the agenda. Last week, there was another UN high level meeting to review the 2011 meeting. Sanitation was still not on the agenda:
allafrica.com/stories/201407161464.html
www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/20...GA-ncds-epidemic/en/
www.news-medical.net/news/20140713/UN-Me...-burden-of-NCDs.aspx

“Our realization about the connection between stunting and sanitation is just emerging,” said Sue Coates, chief of water, sanitation and hygiene at Unicef India. “At this point, it is still just an hypothesis, but it is an incredibly exciting and important one because of its potential impact.”