Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Aug:144:103816.
doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103816. Epub 2023 Jun 26.

Using wastewater to overcome health disparities among rural residents

Rochelle H Holm  1 , Gina Pocock  2 , Marie A Severson  3 , Victor C Huber  3 , Ted Smith  1 , Lisa M McFadden  3
Affiliations

Using wastewater to overcome health disparities among rural residents

Rochelle H Holm et al. Geoforum. 2023 Aug.

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic highlighted the need for novel tools to promote health equity. There has been a historical legacy around the location and allocation of public facilities (such as health care) focused on efficiency, which is not attainable in rural, low-density, United States areas. Differences in the spread of the disease and outcomes of infections have been observed between urban and rural populations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this article was to review rural health disparities related to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic while using evidence to support wastewater surveillance as a potentially innovative tool to address these disparities more widely. The successful implementation of wastewater surveillance in resource-limited settings in South Africa demonstrates the ability to monitor disease in underserved areas. A better surveillance model of disease detection among rural residents will overcome issues around the interactions of a disease and social determinants of health. Wastewater surveillance can be used to promote health equity, particularly in rural and resource-limited areas, and has the potential to identify future global outbreaks of endemic and pandemic viruses.

Keywords: Africa; Disease surveillance; Health disparities; SARS-CoV-2; Vulnerable communities; Wastewater surveillance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Framework for adapting rural wastewater surveillance to overcome health disparities.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Alcendor D.J. Targeting COVID vaccine hesitancy in rural communities in Tennessee: implications for extending the COVID-19 pandemic in the south. Vaccines (Basel) 2021;9(11):1279. doi: 10.3390/vaccines9111279. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anzalone A.J., Horswell R., Hendricks B.M., Chu S., Hillegass W.B., Beasley W.H., Harper J.R., Kimble W., Rosen C.J., Miele L., McClay J.C., Santangelo S.L., Hodder S.L. Higher hospitalization and mortality rates among SARS-CoV-2-infected persons in rural America. J. Rural Health. 2023;39(1):39–54. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ashburn N.P., Snavely A.C., Angi R.M., Scheidler J.F., Crowe R.P., McGinnis H.D., Hiestand B.C., Miller C.D., Mahler S.A., Stopyra J.P. Prehospital time for patients with acute cardiac complaints: A rural health disparity. Am. J. Emerg. Med. 2021;52:64–68. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2021.11.038. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Behrman P., Fitzgibbon M.L., Dulin A., Wang M.L., Baskin M. Society of behavioral medicine statement on COVID-19 and rural health. Transl. Behav. Med. 2021;11(2):625–630. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibaa114. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brandt K., Goel V., Keeler C., Bell G.J., Aiello A.E., Corbie-Smith G., Wilson E., Fleischauer A., Emch M., Boyce R.M. SARS-CoV-2 testing in North Carolina: Racial, ethnic, and geographic disparities. Health Place. 2021;69 doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102576. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources