Publication: Strengthening Public Health Surveillance Through Wastewater Testing: An Essential Investment for the COVID-19 Pandemic and Future Health Threats
Loading...
Files in English
2,318 downloads
Other Files
760 downloads
Published
2022-01-19
ISSN
Date
2022-01-20
Editor(s)
Abstract
Since early 2020, an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has spread rapidly across the world. Latin America and the Caribbean remains an epicenter of the pandemic, with some of the world’s highest death rates. All countries in the region have been impacted, and more than 1.5 million people have died. With its relentless social and economic consequences, COVID-19 threatens to undo recent decades of progress on health outcomes in Latin America and the Caribbean and diverts attention from work on remaining health sector challenges. This report explores the value, potential, and challenges of wastewater testing for SARS-CoV-2 in Latin America and the Caribbean, including in areas without a sanitary sewerage system. Providing examples from across the world, the report also outlines what countries should consider in creating a national wastewater surveillance program as part of their broader efforts to control the impacts of COVID-19.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Manuel, Doug; Amadei, Carlo Alberto; Campbell, Jonathon R.; Brault, Jean-Martin; Veillard, Jeremy. 2022. Strengthening Public Health Surveillance Through Wastewater Testing: An Essential Investment for the COVID-19 Pandemic and Future Health Threats. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36852 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Colombia - Evaluación de las Capacidades de Preparación y Respuesta ante Futuras Pandemias y Emergencias en Salud Pública(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-05-31)El sistema de salud en Colombia (SGSSS) se basa en un sistema de aseguramiento que tiene como objetivo garantizar el acceso a los servicios de salud y la protección económica de la población. El SGSSS tiene principalmente dos esquemas de beneficiarios: subsidiado y contributivo 1 . Los beneficiarios de estos regímenes están afiliados a las empresas de aseguramiento (EPS) que los representan y administran sus riesgos de salud coordinando los servicios necesarios, según lo determine el Plan de Beneficios. Este Plan se refiere a la gama elegible de servicios, procedimientos, medicamentos y tecnologías para prevenir, aliviar y tratar enfermedades. Por cada beneficiario, se reconoce y desembolsa a cada EPS, una tasa de prima de salud, la Unidad de Pago por Capitación (UPC). Las EPS organizan su red de prestaciones de servicios y contratan a las Instituciones Prestadoras de Servicios de Salud (IPS), para brindar servicios de salud a sus beneficiarios. Las IPS pueden ser hospitales públicos o privados, servicios de atención ambulatoria o profesionales de la salud por cuenta propia. El sistema de salud se financia principalmente con recursos del Estado central, con recursos adicionales derivados de los aportes de personas y empresas con empleados formales. Otros recursos centralizados son desembolsados a las entidades territoriales para financiar iniciativas de salud pública y complementar el régimen subsidiado. Las entidades territoriales también han destinado ingresos (impuestos a licores y loterías) para atender gastos en salud. La pandemia causada por la expansión a escala global del virus SARS CoV2 y de la enfermedad generada por este agente (COVID-19), ha suscitado una crisis sin precedentes desde la perspectiva sanitaria, social y económica (Organización Panamericana de la Salud, 2020). Tal circunstancia ha develado la necesidad de evaluar hasta qué punto estamos preparados como sociedades, regiones, países, ciudades y municipios para encarar y resistir los efectos devastadores de una epidemia, emergencia o problemática sanitaria de tal magnitud. Por ello, resulta preciso identificar brechas y vacíos en las capacidades de preparación y respuesta identificando el grado de desarrollo de aquellas habilidades, condiciones y potencialidades que resguarden las capacidades de operación de los sistemas de salud y permitan responder efectivamente a estas adversidades.Publication Reforming Health Taxes to Improve Mexico’s Health(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-08-27)Improvements on excise taxes on tobacco, alcoholic beverages, and Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) are urgently needed in Mexico to reduce preventable premature deaths. In Mexico, 125,350 people lose their lives annually due to the use of these products. Beyond the health toll, consumption of these products also carries significant fiscal implications. In the case of tobacco products, the fiscal cost amounts to 0.8 percent of GDP each year (Saenz-de-Miera, Reynales-Shigematsu, et al. 2024), yet tobacco tax revenues, at 0.16 percent of GDP, are only a fraction of these costs. Improving these taxes in Mexico requires incorporating specific components in beverages that vary by alcohol and sugar content and setting high specific rates across all three product categories. Simultaneous implementation of other effective population-level interventions is necessary to have a comprehensive strategy to reduce preventable deaths. In the case of tobacco, other effective interventions include monitoring tobacco use and control policies, establishing smoke-free areas, providing cessation support, requiring health warnings on packaging, and enforcing bans on advertising, promotion, and sponsorship (WHO 2008). On alcohol, these include strengthened restrictions on alcohol availability, advanced and enforced drink driving countermeasures, facilitate access to screening, brief interventions, and treatment, and enforce bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion (WHO 2024a; WHO 2019). In SSBs and nutrition in general, including front-of-package labeling, marketing regulations, mass media and digital communication approaches, food fortification, and repurposing of public support for agrifood.Publication Public Health Surveillance Toolkit : A Guide for Busy Task Managers(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-02)This toolkit draws on the expertise of public health practitioners who have experience with public health surveillance and who have recognized the core role of surveillance in public health. These practitioners have advocated for surveillance programs, supplied innovative ideas, and provided insightful critiques over many years. This toolkit also draws on the experience of Bank staff and technical experts from the PAHO and the CDC who have contributed to Bank missions. The toolkit also makes use of WHO references, primarily those from the WHO s Web site. Part A of this toolkit provides some theoretical concepts, and knowledge about surveillance that has been gained through applying these concepts and the practice of surveillance in developing countries. Part B provides information that will be useful to Task Managers as they prepare loans for strengthening public health surveillance systems. Several World Bank experiences are shared. The focus of part B is on practical aspects of surveillance and on lessons learned.Publication The Economic Burden of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Amongst Health Care Workers in the First Year of the Pandemic in Kenya, Colombia, Eswatini, and South Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-24)Health care workers (HCWs) face disproportionate risk of exposure and becoming ill in any infectious disease outbreak. SARS-CoV-2 has proven to be no exception: From Wuhan to Manaus, London to Tehran, and Delhi to Johannesburg, HCWs working in clinics and hospitals have been at heightened risk of developing COVID-19 disease, especially at the beginning of the pandemic when little was known about the then-novel pathogen. This study thus aims to estimate the economic costs of SARS-CoV-2 infections in HCWs during the first year of the pandemic from the societal perspective in four low or middle- income countries. The authors propose a framework to translate SARS-CoV-2 infection amongst HCWs into economic costs along three pathways, provide the estimated burden of HCW infections, and offer recommendations to mitigate against future economic losses due to HCW infections. The economic burden due to SARS-CoV-2 infection among HCWs makes a compelling investment case for pandemic preparedness, particularly the protection of HCWs, and resilient health systems going forward.Publication Wastewater Treatment and Reuse(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-03-31)Small towns in low- and middle-income countries are growing rapidly and struggling to meet the increased demands of wastewater collection and treatment. To avert public health crises and continued environmental degradation, small towns are actively seeking safely managed sanitation solutions, appropriate for their scale, institutional capacity, financial resources, and overarching needs. This document is designed to provide a guide of small-town wastewater treatment processes in order to assist engineers, managers and other stakeholders responsible for wastewater service provision in identifying and selecting appropriate wastewater treatment processes for small towns. This guide is part of a World Bank suite of tools and other material to support World Bank teams and their government counterparts in the planning, design, and implementation of sanitation projects in urbanizing areas. Addressing the specific context of small towns, the format of this guide begins with an introduction of key concepts for a decision maker to understand and then applies a suggested five-step approach to exploring appropriate wastewater treatment technologies, culminating with case studies from three regions applying this approach. It delves into the unique considerations for small-town wastewater treatment and the exploration of corresponding technologies. Before demonstrating the application of the approach, the guide also navigates: (a) factors external to the technologies that define the characteristics and environment of a given small town and that will affect technology choice; and (b) technology-specific information that will ultimately influence decision making. Before embarking on the formal planning and design process, the user is highly encouraged to become familiar with the guide methodology in its entirety while drawing on the principles of the Citywide Inclusive Sanitation approach.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.