Institute for Water, Environment and Health

(UNU-INWEH)

A global initiative to measure, map and meet the needs of individuals and communities vulnerable to water-related diseases in the face of environmental change.

The proposed research utilizes a combination of approaches and methodologies in order to identify the key environmental risk factors (both human and physical) influencing the prevalence of and vulnerability to selected infectious water-related diseases.  The project will build upon a considerable body of existing work within various disciplines including, but not limited to, human vulnerability studies, pathogen life cycles, disease transmission models, climate and environmental change scenarios, integrated modeling and digital mapping platforms.  This will be facilitated by a broad transdisciplinary research team and multiple partners brought together to undertake this project.

The primary purpose of the proposed project is to provide the necessary evidence by way of a suite of interactive mapping tools that facilitate the visualization of vulnerability to water-related diseases at a range of spatial scales, from the local to the global.  A living tool, these vulnerability maps will allow the layering of a range of environmental factors related to the physical, social, cultural, economic and political environments, building a composite of risk and vulnerability enabling assessment as it changes over both space and time.  This evidence-based tool will be available to policy and decision makers in addition to a wide range of end-users in order to inform resource allocation, policy development and targeted interventions.

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