Publications by authors named "Ryan Schweitzer"

Problem: Water, sanitation and waste infrastructure and services in Ukrainian health-care facilities often fail to meet global and national standards, hindering the provision of safe, quality care. The war has worsened existing problems.

Approach: To incrementally improve water, sanitation, hand hygiene, environmental cleaning and health-care waste practices, the World Health Organization (WHO) is working with the health ministry, the Ukrainian Public Health Centre and regional United States Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) to implement the Water and Sanitation for Health Facility Improvement Tool (WASH FIT).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - WASH infrastructure and practices, particularly hand hygiene, are essential for preventing the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses, with guidance tailored to COVID-19 built upon existing WASH standards.
  • - Collaborating with local organizations, tools were created to assess WASH conditions and practices, leading to interventions aimed at mitigating COVID-19 in healthcare and community settings within low- and middle-income countries.
  • - Observations showed gaps in access to hand hygiene materials despite improved water supply, and adherence to hand hygiene was significantly better after patient contact, highlighting the need for better management of handwashing stations and enforcement of global WASH standards in communal spaces.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Many refugees face challenges accessing water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services. However, there is limited literature on WASH access for refugee populations, including for menstrual health services. Unmet WASH access needs may therefore be hidden, amplifying morbidity and mortality risks for already vulnerable refugee populations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Environmental health risks such as household air pollution due to burning solid fuels, inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene, and chemical pollution disproportionately affect the poorest and most marginalized populations. While billions of dollars and countless hours of research have been applied toward addressing these issues in both development and humanitarian contexts, many interventions fail to achieve or sustain desired outcomes over time. This pattern points to the perpetuation of linear thinking, despite the complex nature of environmental health within these contexts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

There are 70.8 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and asylum seekers. Since mortality rates are highest in the first six months of displacement, the provision of adequate services and infrastructure by relief organizations is critical in this "emergency phase.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The acceptability of ceramic filters for point-of-use water treatment depends not only on the quality of the filtered water, but also on the quantity of water the filters can produce. This paper presents two mathematical models for the hydraulic performance of ceramic water filters under typical usage. A model is developed for two common filter geometries: paraboloid- and frustum-shaped.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF