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

Yours to Cut Out and Keep

Describes paper microscope costing only 50 cents that was created by Manu Prakash, a Stanford Woods Institute-affiliated bioengineer
June 7, 2014 - By , The Economist

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Foldable Microscope Heading Around the World

Discusses Senior Fellow Manu Prakash's "Origami microscope" aimed at citizen scientists
April 24, 2014 - By Carolyn Johnson, ABC News

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Science Tools Anyone Can Afford

Features Woods-affiliated Assistant Professor of Bioengineering Manu Prakash, who believes in distributing powerful yet inexpensive laboratory...
April 21, 2014 - By John Markoff, The New York Times

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Panel's Warning on Climate Risk: Worst Is Yet to Come

Quotes Woods Senior Fellows Chris Field and David Lobell on findings of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that...
March 31, 2014 - By Justin Gillis, The New York Times

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