Pioneering Water and Health Conference draws international attention, participation
| October 29, 2012 | |
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The 2012 Water and Health Conference: Science, Policy and Innovation kicks off this week to explore critical global issues in water and health and present the latest water-related research, education and outreach efforts.
Conference organizers expect 500 of the world’s leading water experts to gather in Chapel Hill, N.C., today through Nov. 2 for this third annual conference, jointly organized by the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health’s Water Institute and the UNC Institute for the Environment. The conference program will consider drinking water supply, sanitation, hygiene and water resources in both the developing and developed worlds with a strong public health emphasis.
Dr. Jamie Bartram
“In just three years, the conference has become an important meeting point for those working on the interfaces of water, sanitation hygiene, health and development,” said Jamie Bartram, PhD, professor of environmental sciences and engineering. “Bringing together academia, government, private and NGO actors from across the developing and developed worlds provides new perspectives, shared vision, improves understanding and accelerates progress.” Presentations will cover such topics as the development and evaluation of behavior change programs, community management of water and watershed ecosystems, and household-centered WaSH interventions, among others. In addition, this year’s conference offers participants 40 networking and workshop opportunities, more than 200 presentations, and the chance to interact with a diverse group of WaSH, health, and development thought-leaders from around the world.
A highlight of this year’s conference is the innovation panel led by Robert Bos, MSc, coordinator for water, sanitation, hygiene and health at the World Health Organization. With millennium development goals set to expire in 2015, this panel will feature a discussion with the chairs of working groups for water and sanitation to begin to review challenges and focus on developing the next set of international targets for water and sanitation.”This year’s conference is exceptionally timely for translating emerging scientific insight into the opportunity for major policy developments,” Bartram said. “The development of new international targets after 2015, a growing recognition of a human right to water and sanitation, and practice developments such as the demonstration of health benefits from improving water supply even in developed nations create demands for information to inform both policy and practice.”
Keynote speakers at this year’s conference include:
More information and conference details are available on the conference website. A list of conference sponsors, including UNC’s campus-wide Water in our World project, also appears on the site.
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