ValueofLeadPrevention.org enables policymakers, community leaders and residents to calculate the cost of childhood lead exposure in their state and the economic benefits of adopting interventions to reduce the risk of lead exposure, from replacing leaded drinking water service lines to eradicating lead paint hazards in older homes.
Lead in U.S. drinking water: SciLine has a fact sheet, with sources, that outlines the background of lead in tap water, the health effects and the state of rules and regulations.
Urbanization and Slums: Infectious Diseases in the Built Environment: Proceedings of a Workshop
The urban built environment is a prime setting for microbial transmission, because just as cities serve as hubs for migration and international travel, components of the urban built environment serve as hubs that drive the transmission of infectious disease pathogens. The risk of infectious diseases for many people living in slums is further compounded by their poverty and their surrounding physical and social environment, which is often overcrowded, is prone to physical hazards, and lacks adequate or secure housing and basic infrastructure, including water, sanitation, or hygiene services.
To examine the role of the urban built environment in the emergence and reemergence of infectious diseases that affect human health, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine planned a public workshop. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25070
Being overburdened and medically underserved: Assessment of this double disparity for populations in the state of Maryland
Sacoby Wilson, Hongmei Zhang, Chengsheng Jiang, Kristen Burwell, Rebecca Rehr, Rianna Murray, Laura Dalemarre and Charles Naney; Environmental Health, 2014
Are minorities and low-income individuals disproportionately affected by land with environmental hazards, such as Toxic Research Inventory (TRI) facilities? The researchers analyzed spatial disparities in the placement of these TRI facilities across the state of Maryland using several socioeconomic and demographic indicators. Using univariate and multivariate regression with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), they assessed the burden of TRI facilities in four groups of census tracts: Tracts with at least one TRI facility, tracts located under 0.5 km from the nearest TRI facilities, and tracts located between 0.5 km and 1 km from the nearest TRI facilities. “We found that tracts with higher proportions of non-white residents and people living in poverty were more likely to be closer to TRI facilities,” the researchers wrote. “We found that people of color and low-income groups are differentially burdened by TRI facilities in Maryland.” They also concluded that low-income and low-education individuals were overburdened and medically underserved as well.