Beneficial and adverse effects of dam construction in canal tannery wastewater effluent with a high content of chromium in Hazaribagh, Bangladesh.

Background: Blockage to divide downstream canals into upstream canals, into which tannery wastewater including a high concentration of trivalent chromium [Cr(III)] is directly discharged, has been constructed in Hazaribagh, a tannery built-up area in Bangladesh. However, there has been no study to verify the environmental significance of blockage construction for water pollution of Cr in nature.

Methods: Consecutive fixed area monitoring for a total of 164 water samples collected outside and inside Hazaribagh from 2014 to 2023 was carried out to clarify the effects of stagnant and flowable canal water in the presence or absence of blockage on Cr(III) and hexavalent Cr [Cr(VI)] concentrations.

Enhancing Respiratory Disease Surveillance to Detect COVID-19 in Shelters for Displaced Persons, Thailand-Myanmar Border, 2020-2021.

We developed surveillance guidance for COVID-19 in 9 temporary camps for displaced persons along the Thailand-Myanmar border. Arrangements were made for testing of persons presenting with acute respiratory infection, influenza-like illness, or who met the Thailand national COVID-19 Person Under Investigation case definition. In addition, testing was performed for persons who had traveled outside of the camps in outbreak-affected areas or who departed Thailand as resettling refugees.

Investigating whether the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis holds for sectoral CO emissions: evidence from developed and developing countries.

Carbon dioxide (CO) emissions entail a key component of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and are crucial for global warming and climate change issues. Although the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) pattern of the emissions-income nexus has intrigued many researchers for a long time, few studies cover a wide range of economic sectors and a large number of countries, which calls for the re-investigation of sector-wise EKC arguments. Thereby, we investigate the long-run equilibrium relationship between CO emissions and per capita income in a panel of 86 developing and developed countries for the period from 1990 through 2015.

Strengthening risk communication systems for public health emergencies in the WHO South-East Asia Region.

Risk communication and community engagement are critical aspects of public health emergency preparedness and response and therefore one of the eight original core capacities of the International Health Regulations (2005). Joint external evaluations in eight out of eleven countries of the World Health Organization South-East Asia Region reveal that there is considerable variation in risk communication capacities among countries. Of the five areas evaluated - risk communication systems, internal and partner coordination, public communication, community engagement and listening, and risky behaviour and misinformation - the strongest areas, across the region, are partner coordination and community engagement, while risk communication systems is the weakest area and needs further strengthening.