COVID-19 and Informal Settlements - Implications for Water, Sanitation and Health in India and Indonesia

Abstract

Informal settlements are home to over one billion people worldwide and are characterised by high population densities and poor environmental conditions. The authors identify the impact of COVID-19 on existing water and sanitation practices and potential pathways for transmission of COVID-19 in informal settlements in India and Indonesia. In the short term, there is an urgent need for mobile hand washing, washing/bathing facilities and toilets. In the long term, COVID-19 provides an opportunity to invest in centralised water and sanitation networked solutions appropriated for high-density settings to integrate those settlements into the city, improve environmental conditions and health in cities.

Journal

Title: UCL Open: Environment Preprint

Publisher: UCL Press

Publication date (Electronic preprint): 17 August 2020

Affiliations

[1 ] UCL, Engineering for International Development Centre, Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering

[2 ] Aceso Global Health Consultants Limited

[3 ] UCL, Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering

[4 ] Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University

[5 ] Indonesia One Health University Network

[6 ] Aceso Global Health Consultants Limited, India

[7 ] Population, Policy and Practice, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health

Article

DOI: 10.14324/111.444/000036.v3

License:

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding

Submission on behalf of Childhood Infections & Pollution (CHIP) Consortium N/A