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\"HISTORIES OF DIRT IN WEST AFRICA is a historical and cultural approach to the study of dirt in relation to public health, governance, and daily life in urban West Africa. While in the Anglophone world dirt is evoked to denote a problem, Stephanie Newell broadens dirt as an interpretive category to move beyond the fixation on purity and cleanliness to encompass understandings of, and interactions with, dirt as a dimension of urbanization. Newell thus situates her study of dirt between the failings of colonial interpretations of dirt and the multifaceted connotations of dirt in the West African context. Through archival work, she asserts that dirt structured colonial understandings of public health, which then gradually enabled a discourse through which hygiene policies under the British Annexation of Lagos were set--the same logic that enabled racial segregation in the name of public health. Newell reads the deep history of \"sanitary salvation,\" or the set of related public health initiatives meant to enable clean and healthy colonial subjects, against present-day discussions concerning health, well-being, and daily life in West African cities.

Environmental health studies and practices tend to prioritise health and hygiene, with environmental sanitation, which encompasses behaviour and sanitation facilities, representing a significant concern in environmental health risks. Nevertheless, numerous studies have demonstrated that the physical components of buildings exert an impact on environmental health status. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that the physical components of buildings influence environmental health risks and they can be incorporated as additional variables in the development of a more precise, valid, and comprehensive environmental health risk assessment model. In this study, a multistage random sampling technique was employed to obtain a total sample of 400 households. This study is a second-order construct that was measured formatively using an embedded two-stage approach. The findings of this study indicate that the physical component of the building has a significant effect on environmental health risks. This is indicated by the path coefficient value of 0.249. The most influential components are bedroom windows, floor type, ceiling, wall type, roof type, living room windows, occupancy density, temperature, humidity, and temperature. By identifying these neglected health risk factors, governments, health institutions, and communities can develop more effective and efficient strategies for mitigating environmental health risks.

Poor waste management in shanty towns across developing countries has significantly impacted public health, contributing to widespread outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, malaria, and typhoid due to unsanitary living conditions and contaminated environments. Limited efforts by residents and governments to implement effective waste disposal practices exacerbate these health risks, perpetuating a cycle of poor sanitation, increased disease transmission, and environmental degradation. This study investigates the impact of poor waste management on public health in informal settlements and explores strategies to mitigate these risks through improved practices and collaborative efforts. The study employed a cross-sectional research design and collected data using semi-structured questionnaires to collect data from 217 households in Tandale, Manzese, and Tandika in the Dar es Salaam region. The findings confirm that inadequate waste collection services, lack of proper disposal sites, high costs of waste management, and poor public awareness are key contributors to the accumulation of waste and the prevalence of diseases. Hypothesis testing further reveals that inadequate waste collection services significantly impact public health challenges, while public health initiatives on waste management significantly improve health outcomes and reduce disease prevalence. The study’s recommendations include increasing the frequency of waste collection, fostering community-led waste management initiatives, enhancing public education on the health risks of poor waste disposal, and providing subsidized resources such as waste bins and bags. Additionally, strengthened collaboration between local governments, NGOs, and community members is essential for mobilizing resources and implementing sustainable waste management practices. These measures are vital to reducing public health risks and creating healthier living conditions in underserved communities.

\"Garbage is a memoir of an exceptional trash collector from the streets and wharves of San Francisco. This is a rollicking first-person narrative that recounts an incredible life led and has amazing nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout its pages. Stefanelli was trained to be a scavenger by his uncles in the 1940s and 50s ata time whenrampant discrimination prevented Italian immigrants and their families from pursuing any other career. From there, he became a 'boss scavenger', married a garbage man's daughter, and climbed the ranks of the Sunset Scavenger Company where he eventually took part in a corporate shakeup that made him the company's president at only 31 years old. As one of the men at the helm of this booming industry, he became the chief advocate for increasingly innovative recycling and waste management practices in the Bay Area, and a foremost leader of environmentally-conscious business in the world. Stefanelli's lively memoir will enlighten readers to the waste management business, an industry that was once considered the lowest rung on the social ladder, but will also show his unparalleled capacity for transformation and vision\"-- Provided by publisher.

Sanitation is critical for public health, environmental sustainability, and community well-being. Beyond maintaining clean surroundings, effective sanitation reduces stress, anxiety, and disease burdens. However, in Nigeria, particularly in urban centres like Akure and Owo, compliance with environmental sanitation laws remains inconsistent. Understanding residents’ perceptions of these laws is therefore essential for strengthening solid waste management systems. This study employed a quantitative research design using structured questionnaires administered to residents in Akure and Owo, Ondo State. The survey of 600 questionnaires with 350 and 250 from Akure and Owo respectively yielded 100% retrieval. Data were analysed using Factor Analysis with SPSS software to identify key factors influencing perceptions of environmental sanitation regulations. In Akure, five principal components explained 64.2% of the variance in perception. Community leadership was the most significant factor, accounting for 20.5% of the variance, followed by the belief that waste management is primarily a government responsibility (17.4%) and weak enforcement (14.4%). In Owo, seven principal components explained 60.5% of the variance. The dominant factor was gendered perception, with 15.3% of the variance attributed to the belief that women are primarily responsible for waste management. Other notable factors included poor monitoring by law enforcement (13%), efficacy of enforcement agents (10.9%), and governance quality (7.3%). While both cities shared concerns related to enforcement and governance, cultural context strongly shaped perceptions in Owo. The study highlights the complex socio-cultural and institutional drivers of compliance with sanitation laws in Nigerian urban areas. It concludes that culturally sensitive strategies are essential, particularly those that leverage community leadership in Akure and challenge restrictive gender norms in Owo. Strengthening law enforcement capacity, improving governance transparency, and promoting inclusive community participation are recommended to achieve sustainable compliance and effective solid waste management.

Decentralized sanitation in rural areas urgently requires accessible and nature-based solutions to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 (clean water and sanitation for all). However, monitoring studies of such ecotechnologies in disperse communities remain limited. This study evaluated the performance of an evapotranspiration tank (TEvap), designed with community participation, for the treatment of domestic sewage in a rural Quilombola household in the Brazilian Cerrado. The system (total area of 8.1 m2, with about 1.0 m2 per inhabitant) was monitored for 218 days, covering the rainy season and the plants’ establishment phase. After 51 days, the TEvap reached operational equilibrium, maintaining a zero-discharge regime, and after 218 days, 92.3% of the total system inlet volumes (i.e., 37.47 in 40.58 m3) were removed through evapotranspiration and uptake by cultivated plants (Musa spp.). Statistical analyses revealed correlations that were moderate to strong, and weak between the blackwater level and relative humidity (Pearson correlation coefficient, r = 0.75), temperature (r = −0.66), and per capita blackwater contribution (r = 0.28), highlighting the influence of climatic conditions on system efficiency. These results confirm the TEvap as a promising, low-maintenance, and climate-resilient technology for decentralized domestic sewage treatment in vulnerable rural communities, with the potential to support sanitation policy goals and promote public health.

Background With China’s economic transformation, essential service workers have become a crucial workforce in tertiary industry. These workers face significant occupational health risks, making occupational health literacy (OHL) vital for their health protection. However, the specific influence of these socioeconomic and occupational characteristics on OHL among essential service workers remains largely unexplored, particularly in China’s economically developed regions. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the associations between socioeconomic and occupational characteristics and OHL among essential service workers in Guangdong, China. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 2,640 essential service workers from the environmental sanitation, transportation, express and food delivery industries. OHL was assessed across four dimensions via the National OHL Surveillance Questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to examine associations between socioeconomic and occupational characteristics (education level, monthly income, job tenure) with OHL, adjusting for potential confounders (sex, age, ethnic group, marital status, hukou type, enterprise scale, registration type, industry, and other socioeconomic and occupational characteristics). Results The overall OHL level was 52.8%. A higher educational level was positively associated with OHL (adjusted OR = 1.69, 95% CI: 1.19–2.41 for tertiary vs. primary education). Monthly income showed an inverse association, with higher-income workers having lower odds of adequate OHL (adjusted ORs: 0.44–0.60). Longer job tenure was negatively associated with OHL (adjusted OR = 0.36, 95% CI: 0.28–0.47 for ≥ 5 vs. <1 year). Educational level positively influenced OHL across all industries without interaction effects, while monthly income and job tenure showed significant industry-specific interactions, with job tenure negatively associated with OHL only in environmental sanitation and transportation industries. Conclusions Socioeconomic and occupational characteristics significantly influence OHL among essential service workers, with patterns varying across industries. These findings suggest the need for targeted interventions that consider educational background, working experience, and industry-specific characteristics to increase OHL among this vulnerable workforce.

The World Health Organization has designated mosquitoes as the most lethal animal since they are known to spread pathogen-transmitting organisms. Understanding the many environmental elements that contribute to the spread of these vectors is one of the many strategies used to stop them. If there are mosquitoes around people, it may indicate that there is not an appropriate environmental sanitation program in place in the community or region. Environmental sanitation involves improving any elements of the physical environment that could have a negative impact on a person's survival, health, or physical environment. Keywords containing ‘Aedes,’ ‘Culex,’ ‘Anopheles,’ ‘dengue,’ ‘malaria,’ ‘yellow fever,’ ‘Zika,’ ‘West Nile,’ ‘chikungunya,’ ‘resident,’ ‘environment,’ ‘sanitation,’ ‘mosquito control,’ and ‘breeding sites’ of published articles on PubMed, Google Scholar, and ResearchGate were reviewed. It was discovered that the general population should be involved in mosquito and mosquito-borne disease control. Collaboration between health professionals and the general population is essential. The purpose of this paper is to increase public awareness of environmental health issues related to diseases carried by mosquitoes.

Background: Early childhood growth trajectories can influence the risk of chronic diseases in adulthood. Improvements in environmental sanitation may affect child development in low-resource settings. Objective: to examine the associations among socioeconomic factors with nutrition indicators, and trajectories of anthropometric indicators across three epidemiological cohorts that reflect different phases of environmental sanitation implementation. Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted in Salvador, Brazil, from 1997 to 2013. A total of 1429 children were recruited across three epidemiological cohorts, corresponding to the phases of a sanitation program: pre-intervention (n = 299), intervention (n = 1007), and post-intervention (n = 123). Height-for-age (HAZ) and BMI-for-age (BAZ) z-scores were assessed at four time points. Multilevel linear models were used to adjust for socioeconomic factors. Results: A total of 992 children (68.7%) completed follow-up. Post-intervention children showed improved HAZ trajectories, with sex-specific patterns that varied across cohorts. Birth weight is positively associated with HAZ across all cohorts (0.34–0.49 kg increase per z-score). Household overcrowding (>2 persons/room) is consistently associated with lower HAZ (−0.34 to −0.63 z-score reduction). Children who were never exclusively breastfed in the post-intervention phase had a higher BAZ (0.76 z-score increase). Caesarean delivery is associated with higher BAZ in the pre-intervention (0.23) and intervention (0.27) cohorts. Conclusions: Children born in later time periods showed better growth trajectories, which may reflect the combined effects of sanitation improvements, economic development, and other societal changes in Brazil during this period. Further research using experimental or quasi-experimental designs is needed to isolate the specific contribution of sanitation to child growth.