Modeling the health impact of water and sanitation service deficits on waterborne disease transmission

Rujira Chaysiri,Garrick E Louis,Wirawan Chinviriyasit

doi:10.1186/s13662-021-03556-w

Abstract

Cholera is a waterborne disease that continues to pose serious public health problems in many developing countries. Increasing water and sanitation coverage is a goal for local authorities in these countries, as it can eliminate one of the root causes of cholera transmission. The SIWDR (susceptible–infected–water–dumpsite–recovered) model is proposed here to evaluate the effects of the improved coverage of water and sanitation services in a community at risk of a cholera outbreak. This paper provides a mathematical study of the dynamics of the water and sanitation (WatSan) deficits and their public health impact in a community. The theoretical analysis of the SIWDR model gave a certain threshold value (known as the basic reproductive number and denoted mathcal{R}_{0}) to stop the transmission of cholera. It was found that the disease-free equilibrium was globally asymptotically stable whenever mathcal{R}_{0} leq 1. The unique endemic equilibrium was globally asymptotically stable whenever mathcal{R}_{0} >1. Sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the relative importance of model parameters to disease transmission and prevention. The numerical simulation results, using realistic parameter values in describing cholera transmission in Haiti, showed that improving the drinking water supply, wastewater and sewage treatment, and solid waste disposal services would be effective strategies for controlling the transmission pathways of this waterborne disease.

Highlights

The most common waterborne diseases that pose a major public health risk in communities and continue to be leading causes for illnesses and deaths worldwide, especially in developing countries, include diarrhea, cholera, giardia, dysentery, Escherichia coli, salmonella, shigella, typhoid, and hepatitis A [1]
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cholera is an infectious disease characterized by severe watery diarrhea and is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae
It was found that the disease-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable whenever R0 ≤ 1 as guaranteed by Theorem 3.2

Summary

Introduction

The most common waterborne diseases that pose a major public health risk in communities and continue to be leading causes for illnesses and deaths worldwide, especially in developing countries, include diarrhea, cholera, giardia, dysentery, Escherichia coli, salmonella, shigella, typhoid, and hepatitis A [1]. The impact of improving water and sanitation services and the management of open dumpsites are explored as mechanisms to control waterborne disease transmission.

Results

Conclusion