Dear Reader,
the end of the year is coming soon, and as every year Christmas is arriving sooner than expected. But once again, and although there have been major changes in the staff of the WHOCC (see page 13), we made it: we are happy to present you with the 15th volume of our WHOCC Newsletter and we would again like to give our warmest thanks to the authors for their highly interesting contributions. In the current issue, we focus on water and health problems in some Asian countries.
We invited Professor Abha Lakshmi Singh from the Aligarh Muslim University, India, to give us an insight into the water supply situation of poor urban households in Aligarh City. Water shortage affects one third of the Indian population and thus it is the biggest crisis India is facing today. “For the urban poor life is a living hell”, says Ms. Singh. Improvement of the water and sanitation infrastructure for the poor is therefore most urgently needed.
The Pasteur Institute in Lille, France is coordinating a project on the microbiological safety of drinking water in Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic. Dr. Dilorom Fayzieva from the Uzbek Academy of Sciences explains to us what the project, a follow-up to the French-Kyrgyz-Uzbek Micro Water Initiative, is all about. It is intended to establish ISO/WHO standards in the bacteriological analysis of drinking water.
Dr. Edith Fischnaller, chairwomen of the German NGO Cap Anamur takes us to Afghanistan, where as a consequence of the long-lasting war and the instable security situation the health system has substantial problems relating to the recognition, control and prevention of infectious disease outbreaks. The issue will be completed by short reports from several conferences which took place in 2009: the biennial symposium of the IWA Health-Related Water Microbiology Group, the Cannes Water Symposium, and the International Symposium on Medical Geography.
We look forward receiving your comments, encourage you to contribute to future “Water & Risk” newsletters and wish you a happy, healthy and successful 2010!
Thomas Kistemann
Water for Poor Urban Households: A study of Aligarh City, India.
Towards Microbiological Safety of Drinking Water in Central Asia: A NATO Science for Peace Project in the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic
Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever – an outbreak in Herat Province, Afghanistan
15 th International Symposium of the Health-Related Water Microbiology Group, 31 May - 5 June 2009 , Naxos, Greece
Cannes Water Symposium Workshop 30 June - 2 July 2009, Cannes, France
The 13 th International Symposium on Medical Geography (IMGS), McMaster University, 12-17 July 2009, Ontario, Canada
WHO CC Newsletter No. 15: high (pdf, 12 MB) / low (pdf, 1.2 MB)