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Giardiasis, caused by the protozoan parasite Giardia intestinalis, poses a significant public health burden worldwide, particularly in regions with limited access to clean water and sanitation infrastructure. Understanding the transmission dynamics of giardiasis and evaluating intervention strategies are crucial for effective disease control. In this study, we apply the theory of optimal control to the giardiasis model. The model includes public health education, treatment, and sanitation as the control measures for giardiasis. The goal is to minimize the infections in the population brought on by interactions with asymptomatic, symptomatic, and contaminated environments while reducing the cost of the control measures. We accomplish this goal by using Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle, where fourth-order Runge–Kutta is used to perform numerical simulations for both forward and backward in-time schemes. We simulate the model under different control scenarios to determine which strategy could produce the greatest results. The results demonstrate that the control strategy combining the three control measures (public health education, treatment, and sanitation) proves to be more effective in curbing the spread of giardiasis. Moreover, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) is used to analyze cost-effectiveness. The cost-effectiveness analysis revealed that the strategy that contains treatment and sanitation is the best strategy to implement in the population in case of budget constraints. Hence, our study recommends that sanitizing the environment and treating the infected individuals immediately could be the best practice for controlling the spread of giardiasis disease on an entire population.

Media has a notable impact on reducing disease prevalence, while sanitation measures and heightened awareness can effectively control epidemics by diminishing bacterial growth rates and limiting direct contact with infected individuals. In this study, we propose and analyze an epidemic model to explore how media and sanitation practices influence the dynamics of diseases transmitted through direct contact between susceptible and infected individuals, as well as via bacteria in the environment. Our study entails a combined approach involving both analytical and numerical analyses of the system. We observe that the disease-free and endemic equilibria of the system are interconnected through a forward transcritical bifurcation. We estimate the most important model parameter using authentic cholera data from Sudan for calibration. Our numerical findings suggest that regulating disease transmission through direct contact and environmental bacteria can significantly decrease disease prevalence. Additionally, we note that the growth rate of social media advertisements, along with efforts made by government officials and informed individuals to eliminate bacteria through sanitation coverage, introduces destabilizing effects. However, system stability is reestablished when the baseline number of social media advertisements exceeds a specific threshold. The dissemination of awareness among susceptible individuals, as well as the rate of transfer of informed people to the susceptible class, initially leads to destabilization but eventually stabilizes the system. Disease eradication becomes feasible when the rate of transfer of informed individuals to the susceptible class is very low. Moreover, higher initial values for awareness programs and the dissemination rate of awareness could also eliminate the disease from society. Furthermore, we see that increasing the treatment rate of infectives plays a significant role in achieving disease eradication. Moreover, we investigate an optimal control problem that integrates sanitation interventions and awareness protocols.

Media impact has significant effect on reducing the disease prevalence, meanwhile sanitation and awareness can control the epidemic by reducing the growth rate of bacteria and direct contacts with infected individuals. In this paper, we investigate the impacts of media and sanitation coverage on the dynamics of epidemic outbreak. We observe that the growth rate of social media advertisements carries out a destabilizing role, while the system regains stability if the baseline number of social media advertisements exceeds a certain threshold. The dissemination of awareness among susceptibles first destabilizes and then stabilizes the system. The disease can be wiped out if the baseline level of awareness or the rate of spreading global information about the disease and its preventive measures is too high. We obtain an explicit expression for the basic reproduction number ${{ℛ}}_0$ and show that ${{ℛ}}_0<1$ leads to the total eradication of infection from the region. To capture a more realistic scenario, we construct the forced delay model by seasonally varying the growth rate of social media advertisements and incorporating the time lag involved in reporting of total infective cases to the policy makers. Seasonal pattern in the growth rate of social media advertisements adds complexity to the system by inducing chaotic oscillations. For gradual increase in the delay in reported cases of infected individuals, the nonautonomous system switches finitely many times between periodic and chaotic states.

In this study, we propose a deterministic model describing the dynamics of anthrax transmission in animals. It is assumed in the model that anthrax is contracted when susceptible animal comes into contact with infected animals, infected carcasses or the spores of Bacillus anthracis. Conditions for disease-free and endemic equilibria are derived and the basic reproduction number ($R_0$) is computed. The disease-free equilibrium is stable when $R_0<1$ and the disease will be eliminated. If $R_0>1$, the disease persists, therefore, the endemic equilibrium is globally stable. Further, we extend our model by applying optimal control problem in which vaccination for susceptible animals and sanitation are control variables to minimize the anthrax transmission. We study three strategies to investigate the impact of the controls. Our numerical results demonstrate that both vaccination and sanitation help minimizing the transmission although vaccination alone gives more significant impact than sanitation alone. However, the combination of both controls gives the best result in wiping out the anthrax transmission overall. Further, cost-effectiveness analysis shows that the most effective strategy to control anthrax disease is a combination of vaccination and sanitation of the infected areas, therefore these two interventions should be encouraged.

The zoonotic illness brucellosis may spread between humans and animals in a variety of ways. The prevention and management of brucellosis depend heavily on the cleanliness of the areas around animals and the effective eradication of infection from animal housing. In our investigation, we tested a variety of disinfectants against Brucella melitensis to see how well they worked and whether they would work in various environmental settings. In addition to three different types of nano-disinfectants (Dettol with Silver-NPs, Glutaraldehyde with Silver-NPs, and Calcium oxide-NPs), our study included various conventional forms of disinfectants and antiseptics (Virkon$Ⓡ$ S, Cidex, Sodium hypochlorite, Betadine, and Dettol). For estimating the effectiveness of various types of applied disinfectants, reduction rate was employed. The findings indicated that the concentration and length of exposure time of the disinfectants employed, particularly Vircon S, had an impact on their ability to kill bacteria. However, the presence of filthy circumstances and low temperatures considerably reduced the effectiveness of disinfectants, particularly Dettol. On the other hand, nano-disinfectants, particularly glutaraldehyde containing silver nanoparticles, showed better effects than conventional ones. Our research indicated that disinfectants used in everyday life had an impact on Brucella melitensis. However, the presence of filthy environments and low temperatures reduced the bactericidal effectiveness. The impact of nano-disinfectants on Brucella was better.

In this paper, we studied the impact of sensitization and sanitation as possible control actions to curtail the spread of cholera epidemic within a human community. Firstly, we combined a model of Vibrio Cholerae with a generic SIRS cholera model. Classical control strategies in terms of the sensitization of population and sanitation are integrated through the impulsive differential equations. Then we presented the theoretical analysis of the model. More precisely, we computed the disease free equilibrium. We derive the basic reproduction number ${{ℛ}}_0$ which determines the extinction and the persistence of the infection. We show that the trivial disease-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable whenever ${\mathcal{ℛ}}_0\le 1$, while when ${\mathcal{ℛ}}_0>1$, the trivial disease-free equilibrium is unstable and there exists a unique endemic equilibrium point which is globally asymptotically stable. Theoretical results are supported by numerical simulations, which further suggest that the control of cholera should consider both sensitization and sanitation, with a strong focus on the latter.

India categorizes the water situation of more than one-quarter of its governmental units as over-exploited, critical, or semi-critical. Unsustainable water extraction, inefficient use of resources, and the large water demand of the agricultural sector (more than 90%) are among the causes of the worsening state of water resources. In order to assure the access to clean drinking water, the Indian Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation initiated the National Rural Drinking Water Security Pilot Project in 2011. To analyze the costs and benefits of this pilot project, we follow the pretest–posttest control group study design comparing two points in time and two groups (study group and control group). In total, 12 sample villages (consisting of 3,265 households and 20,767 individuals) in two different areas were included. Costs and benefits were captured if they were directly and causally linked with the project. This includes financial and economic costs for individuals and the government, as well as benefits in four major fields: health, economy, environment, and time savings. We found total benefits ranging between USD 420,000 in low performing sites and USD 480,000 in high performing sites. Corresponding costs were between USD 40,000 and 45,000. Adjusted to per capita values, benefits vary between USD 54 and USD 300 and costs between USD 5 and USD 28. Adjusting a 99% confidence interval, the net benefits will vary between approximately USD 150 and USD 400 in the high performing sites and between USD 30 and USD 70 in the low performing sites. The expected benefit-to-cost ratios are 11 in high performing sites and 10 in the low performing sites. Due to the large social return in high as well as in low performing study sites, this paper recommends prolonging and upscaling the interventions evaluated in the pilot project sites.

One common method for assessing the affordability of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services is to compare a household’s reported WASH expenditure, as a proportion of total household expenditure, to a predefined threshold. Another common method is to subtract this reported WASH expenditure from the household’s total income (or expenditure), and then compare that result against a minimum amount needed to purchase other basic goods and services. The innovative, alternative approach to determining affordability introduced in this paper borrows from the method commonly used to draw the monetary poverty line. This offers five advantages over the common methods of investigating the affordability of WASH services. First, it defines a “basket” of WASH services that accounts for the type and level of WASH services that a household receives (and that involves a threshold quality of service, deemed necessary for health and well-being). Second, it makes use of the actual costs of service, therefore moving away from household estimates of WASH expenditure that tend to be inadequate and rarely reflect actual costs. Third, it considers both initial fixed costs and recurring consumption costs, each of which pose their own unique challenges to affordability. Fourth, it makes use of household-level data on access to WASH services, which allows for the grouping of households into categories with distinct policy implications. Finally, this approach facilitates scenario analyses, whereby the impact of different pricing policies can be assessed. This approach is then applied to rural Nigeria, using data from the General Household Survey (GHS) 2015–16, to demonstrate its utility as a tool to better focus policy reform on the actual affordability constraints of the unserved.

According to the 2011 Census of India, around 55% of rural households do not access a private bathing facility. The research study examines whether a bathing space’s presence improves the quality of life of the women using it. The study was conducted in two Indian states, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, where two private agencies had facilitated bathing spaces. 54 women were interviewed for the purpose of the study. Individual interviews were conducted to understand the perception of the women who had recent access to the bathing spaces. The research shows that women who have access to bathing space have perceived positive changes in their health. Because of access to a private and secluded area, they can carry out Menstrual Hygiene Management practices. Along with the health benefits, the women participants also perceived changes in their daily lives. While there were numerous benefits of the bathing space, the burden of filling water and maintaining the bathing spaces on women increased. The paper also tries to understand what are the reasons for not constructing a bathing space. Cultural norms, lack of land, lack of water and water connectivity, lack of awareness, and economic reasons came across as reasons for not constructing a bathing space in the study.

Gandhi and his socio-economic vision for inclusive development of villages hold particular relevance today. Gandhi had prioritised the growth of rural areas as an integral part of his vision of swaraj yet, after 75 years of India’s independence, our patterns of development have remained confined mainly to eliminating economic barriers, promoting irrigation, agriculture, or farming paying little attention to empowering rural India for self-reliance in issues of drinking water and sanitation and linking these to rural healthcare. It is recently reported that 9 out of 10 people who practice open defecation lived in rural areas (UN Water, 2018: 23–28). Not only defecation but the problem of depleting water resources is equally gigantic. According to India’s NITI Aayog, in 2019, nearly 75 percent of households did not have drinking water on their premises, and about 84 percent of rural households did not have piped water access. Problem accentuates further in terms of food deprivation, hunger and inequality with direct implications for health and sanitation. In this backdrop, this chapter explores the continuing significance of Gandhi’s idea of incorporating sanitation as a focal point of development in rural India. It argues that economic development and social development go hand in hand. The first part elucidates Gandhi’s views on sanitation and why he regarded it as of utmost importance. The second part examines the contemporary discourse of sanitation in India, especially after introducing the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) its linkages to the Sustainable Development Goals for sanitation levels. The third part of the chapter highlights how sanitation policies can be implemented only through a behavioural revolution that demands people’s participation at the grassroots, exactly as Gandhi had advocated.

Arguably, to nourish or take care of the needs of all of humankind — sustainable and affordable access to clean water, safe sanitation, and clean air, together with a sufficiency of energy, food, and shelter — should be universally available. Yet, many humans do not enjoy such access or availability, even though it has been 70 years since the 1948 United Nations (UN) declaration on human rights proclaimed “that all human beings are equal, and have inherent rights.” However, only food and shelter were explicitly mentioned in the initial declaration. Others were recently added to the UN list, but not air and energy. Nevertheless, basic human needs do not have to be declared as a human right before national actions are taken. Today’s key driver is the UN 2030 Agenda, a plan to eradicate all global poverty and set the world onto a “sustainable and resilient path,” through the achievement of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adopted by all UN members, the 2030 Agenda in essence, is a 21^st century version of the 1948 proclamation. The SDGs explicitly detail, or implicitly in the case of clean air, all the necessary needs for the nourishing of tomorrow. To achieve the plan will likely require, at least, changes in national cultural values, eliminating inequalities and disparities, developing more appropriate governance strategies, and meaningful technical innovation. In this chapter, these requirements are discussed against a backdrop of presently known deficiencies in global nourishment needs.

This paper assesses the impact of regulatory quality, along with a number of political, economic, and social mechanisms, on disparities in access to clean water and adequate sanitation. We offer a series of vignettes using cross-national data from 2002 and 2004 to assess the effects of key institutional variables on the improvement of access to safe water and sanitation. The evidence is mixed for the two key variables of a country's commitment to "quality regulation" and the country's long-term development path as expanding or contracting access to water and sanitation.