George Mason University's Center for the Arts

What Happens When Water Is Cleaner? Tracking Transitions in Global Health

Kathryn H. Jacobsen
Assistant Professor, Global & Community Health


Increasing access to clean drinking water is one of the most important ways to reduce child mortality and to promote population health, but it is not as easy as just drilling new wells. Clean water alone does not necessarily improve child health unless it is accompanied by other interventions. Over time clean water opens up a new set of health concerns as immunity to waterborne infections drops and the risk of outbreaks rises. Using waterborne disease as an example, Jacobsen will describe the shifting mix of threats to community health that are occurring with development and globalization and will raise important questions about planning now for appropriate responses to anticipated health transitions.