Environmental Health Insights

The environmental impacts of global warming driven by methane (CH4 ) emissions have catalyzed significant research initiatives in developing novel technologies that enable proactive and rapid detection of CH4 . Several data-driven machine learning (ML) models were tested to determine how well they identified fugitive CH4 and its related intensity in the affected areas. Various meteorological characteristics, including wind speed, temperature, pressure, relative humidity, water vapor, and heat flux, were included in the simulation...

BACKGROUND: Knowledge about community awareness and practices related to a disease, among other things, helps to plan relevant control strategies. This study assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAPs) of the community in Abobo district of Gambella Regional State in Southwestern Ethiopia about urogenital schistosomiasis (UGS), which is endemic to the region. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in 2022. A pretested structured questionnaire was administered...

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Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) levels have been shown to have impacts on health. However, the knowledge of WASH levels in war-prone West African countries is limited. The study extracted data (2015-2021) from the Joint Monitoring Programme (WHO/UNICEF), World Bank and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to estimate WASH levels in the study countries. Pearson correlation analysis was used to establish the association among the WASH levels. Results showed that women had better access to safe water (56...

BACKGROUND: Breastfeeding mothers are prone to undernutrition. However, factors contributing to maternal undernutrition are not exhaustively understood. Hence, this study aimed to determine prevalence of undernutrition among breastfeeding mothers and identify associated factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 606 breastfeeding mothers from selected rural districts in Oromia and Sidama regional states of Ethiopia. Data were collected through an interviewer-administered questionnaire...

Nowadays, in Benin, latrine construction by households highly depends on their financial contributions. However, empirical evidence shows that many households are unwilling to invest in adequate sanitation services. The study aims to determine the household's willingness to pay for improved sanitation services and the associated factors. The study population will include households lacking unimproved sanitation facilities. The household heads will be eligible for survey participation. We will perform a contingent valuation to determine households' willingness to pay for a Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrine...

BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to metals is hypothesized to be associated with child autism. We aim to investigate the joint and individual effects of prenatal exposure to urine metals including lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), manganese (Mn), and selenium (Se) on child Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) scores. METHODS: We used data from 2 cohorts enriched for likelihood of autism spectrum disorder (ASD): Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI) and the Markers of Autism Risk in Babies-Learning Early Signs (MARBLES) studies...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

A total of 30 soil samples from different sampling points at Imo State University (IMSU), Owerri, Nigeria were collected for the study. The activity concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides (238 U, 232 Th, and 40 K) were measured in the samples by gamma-ray spectrometry using NaI (TI) detector. Absorbed dose rate (D), annual effective dose (AED), radium equivalent activity (Raeq ), and radiological hazard index parameters (activity utilization index [AUI], external hazard index [Hex ], internal hazard index [Hin ], and excess lifetime cancer risk [ELCR]) due to the naturally occurring radionuclides were determined...

BACKGROUND: Exposure to air pollution has detrimental effects on the elderly, women, people with pre-existing medical conditions, people living in poverty and children. The aim of the study was to investigate the extent of community awareness and knowledge on the health risks associated with exposure to air pollution. The study was conducted at Annadale residential area locally known as Ladanna surrounded by industrial areas and located in Polokwane Local Municipality under Capricorn District Municipality in Limpopo Province, South Africa...

Open defecation continuously remains a major global sanitation challenge, contributing to an estimated 1.6 million deaths per year. Ghana ranks second in Africa for open defecation and had the fourth-lowest sanitation coverage in 2010. Evidence indicates that about 32% of the rural Ghanaian population still practice open defecation due to lack of access to basic sanitation facilities, drifting the country from achieving universal access to sanitation by 2030. Women, particularly those in rural areas, are disproportionately affected by open defecation, facing heightened health risks, harassment, and a loss of dignity...

Despite the regulations by The World Health Organization (WHO) on the permissible limit of chromium, many industries still discharge wastewater polluted with chromium into the environment irrationally. This poses a lot of risk to aquatic lives and humans because of its carcinogenic and toxic attributes. Thus, treatment of industrial wastewater polluted with chromium is highly imperative before its disposal. Nonetheless, the hulls generated from Garcinia kola in our various farmlands also causes environmental pollution when dumped unknowingly...

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), but whether the asthmatic patients are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 illness than non-asthmatic patients has remained unclear. This scoping review aimed to assess the available evidence to determine if asthmatic patients are at a higher risk for severe COVID-19 illness. Searching several electronic databases and adhering to the PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a scoping review of 70 articles and using defined inclusion-exclusion criteria, 21 articles were analyzed in-depth and included in this scoping review...

INTRODUCTION: Infection prevention (IP) is a practical and scientifically supported technique to prevent avoidable infections. The effectiveness of IP techniques applied will depend on the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of healthcare professionals. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of IP and its associated factors among healthcare professionals at Mizan-Tepi University Teaching Hospital (MTUTH) in southwest Ethiopia...

We investigated the bacteriological quality of drinking water and antimicrobial resistance of bacterial isolates in food and drinking establishments in Shashemane town, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted from July to August 2022. One hundred water samples were collected from the tap water and storage containers of 50 selected establishments. All the collected samples were analyzed for bacteriological and antimicrobial susceptibility tests using standard procedures. The study found approximately 80% of water samples from the tap and all water samples (100%) from storage containers were contaminated with total coliforms...

The risk evaluation of natural disasters is an obstacle to ensuring healthcare services during catastrophic events worldwide. Therefore, timely and appropriate environmental health risk evaluation is essential. In this study, we incorporated the information from databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus. We performed this study to explore the feasibility of using artificial intelligence (AI) in disaster risk and emergency health management. Natural disasters have some phenomenon that is bound to happen...

Viral diseases pose a significant threat to public health around the world. SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) was originally identified in Wuhan, China, in 2019. Throughout the epidemic, SARS-CoV-2 has continually changed genetically, giving rise to variants that are distinct from the original virus. SARS-CoV-2 has a high-frequency mutation rate, resulting in more genetic diversity. EG.5/Eris is a subvariant and descendant of Omicron, which remains the world's most prevalent coronavirus strain of current concern...

The study assessed 18 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in O. niloticus (Nile tilapia) sampled from an aquaculture cage (farm) and a wild catch. The PAHs in fish samples were analysed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Four PAHs (in order of levels: Indeno [1,2,3-cd] pyrene > Anthracene > Perylene > Pyrene; 100-0.8 µg/kg) and only one PAH (Pyrene: 4 µg/kg) were detected in raw samples from the cage and wild catch respectively. Chargrilling significantly increased Pyrene levels after cooking (wild: 4-11 µg/kg; cage: 5-23 µg/kg, p  < ...