Public Health

The environment factors into public health on multiple fronts. To address them, Woods brings Stanford’s world-class medical scholars together with experts on environmental health and other disciplines to solve complex challenges in areas where resources are scarce. Scholars with our Water, Health and Development program are working with partners in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean to deliver affordable water supply and sanitation services in a way that enhances human health through safer, more sustainable water and wastewater management. In Haiti, an initiative run by Stanford graduate students is reducing water contamination from human waste while creating jobs and compost. In Bangladesh, a team led by Woods researchers is developing low-cost chlorination devices that treat water at the point of collection for thousands living in urban slums. In Senegal, researchers funded by Woods’ Environmental Venture Projects program are pioneering natural – and effective – approaches to curb the spread of schistosomiasis, a deadly neglected tropical disease. Read on to learn more about these projects and other work Stanford researchers are doing to sustain the health and well-being of people around the world.

In The News

How Walking in Nature Prevents Depression

Features research on nature's effect on rumination co-authored by Senior Fellow Gretchen Daily  
June 30, 2015 - By Olga Khazan, The Atlantic

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New Research Suggests Nature Walks Are Good for Your Brain

Discusses research co-authored by Senior Fellow Gretchen Daily
June 29, 2015 - By Chris Mooney, Washington Post

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Human Price of Forest Destruction Paid in Plague

Senior Fellow James Holland Jones (Anthropology) discusses the need to study disease mechanisms to better understand how diseases are being...
March 4, 2015 - By Niina Heikkinen and ClimateWire, Scientific American

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Restoring Threatened Mussels To Freshwater Could Cut E. Coli Contamination

Cites research findings by Senior Woods Fellow Alexandria Boehm (Engineering), Senior Woods Fellow Richard Luthy (Engineering), and Niveen Ismail, a...
January 29, 2015 - By Puneet Kollipara, Chemical & Engineering News

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