Waterborne Diseases

Focusing on an increased sourcing of high-quality coffee, as well as implementing regenerative practices, gender equality programs and projects to increase access to healthcare and clean water . VEVEY, Switzerland, March 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nespresso aims to continue to support the local community and economy by investing 20 million USD spent across coffee purchases, price premiums and technical assistance, by 2026 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), helping to give coffee farmers access to the global markets. The ambition is also to help support fund raising of an additional 20 million USD to support the coffee growing communities in Kivu. This initiative is part of the unique Nespresso Reviving Origins program, founded 10 years ago, aiming to restore coffee agriculture in regions where it is under threat. Continue Reading Image by Pacom Bagula In 1980, coffee was the second most important export for DRC and ranked among the world's finest but declined in the early 2000s due to years of instability that had a devastating impact on the industry. Since the launch of the Nespresso Reviving Origins program in DRC in 2020 it has enabled the production of the exquisite coffees from the Lake Kivu region, where the once-thriving coffee farming community has been, and still is, devastated by decades of political and economic instability, that continue to rise today. Guillaume Le Cunff, CEO Nespresso says, "Kivu has the potential to be among the world's great coffee regions but has faced extremely challenging conditions in recent years. Through our Reviving Origins program, we work closely with Congolese farmers, and we have joined forces with partners including, Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI)/ASILI, TechnoServe, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), The Global Environment Facility (GEF), Clarmondial, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Virunga Coffee to restore and revitalize Kivu as a leading source of high-quality, exceptional Arabica coffee. In the context of escalating violence in eastern DRC where access to water is becoming insufficient, water-borne illnesses have resurfaced, and daily life is under significant upheaval, it is even more critical to help build community resilience, access to health care and clean water as well as support farmer livelihoods by continuing to give them access to the global market and empowering them in their agricultural transition." With the continued investment of 20 million USD in the region, as well as with the ambition to support to raise funds of another 20 million USD, Nespresso aims to continue the work to back the revival of the DRC coffee sector. "Nespresso's deep commitment to Kivu is creating lasting change in communities across the region. In our work together equipping farmers with the knowledge and market connections they need to thrive, we have seen the transformative impact that coffee can have in Kivu," said TechnoServe CEO William Warshauer. "We believe this initiative will help inspire other companies to invest there." Abraham Leno, Executive director of ECI says, "Since we started working together, we have built a large health center and an entire water system in the farming community of Minova. Today, our medical team provides safe deliveries and gets hundreds of kids ready for school. More than 22,000 people from the local community have access to clean water, and as displacement soars, we are a primary source of water for thousands of families fleeing violence. With the continued support from Nespresso, we aim to continue this work, expanding dignified and sustainable access to clean water and healthcare." Nespresso's unique sustainable green coffee sourcing program, the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program, provides the foundation for the work in the Reviving Origins program. For 20 years, the AAA Program has built strong relationships with coffee farmers across the world to protect the nature and life in landscapes where coffee is grown and to strengthen communities' resilience. When supporting to rebuilding and reviving the coffee sector in DRC, Nespresso will further deploy the AAA Program and support the farmers in implementing regenerative practices such as crop diversification, stumping, soil health improvement, agroforestry etc. Via the AAA Program Nespresso will also implement a biodiversity tracking tool using DRCs unique birdlife. Other important projects within the AAA Program in DRC are gender equality trainings. By advancing gender equality this can have a significant impact on coffee quality and productivity and the livelihoods of coffee farming communities. To date concrete examples of actions to reduce gender disparities and increase women´s empowerment includes the increase of women agronomists, currently in DRC 42% of the agronomists are female, trainings for farmers that increase women's empowerment, such as financial literacy, household nutrition, "Safe Spaces" gender training and women's leadership. Finally, since 2020 Nespresso have been collaborating with an impact digital start-up to verify and trace the coffee by harnessing the power technology. The platform will automatically verify that farmers receive the right payment (including the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program premium) for the high-quality coffee they produce. About Nestlé Nespresso SA Nestlé Nespresso SA is the pioneer and reference for highest-quality portioned coffee. The company works with more than 150,000 farmers in 18 countries through its AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program to embed sustainability practices on farms and the surrounding landscapes. Launched in 2003 in collaboration with the NGO Rainforest Alliance, the program helps to improve the yield and quality of harvests, ensuring a sustainable supply of high-quality coffee and improving livelihoods of farmers and their communities. In 2022, Nespresso achieved B Corp™ certification – joining an international movement of over 7,900 purpose-led businesses that meet B Corp's high standards of social and environmental responsibility and transparency. Headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nespresso operates in 93 markets and has 14'000 employees. In 2023, it operated a global retail network of 791 boutiques. For more information, visit the Nespresso corporate website: . Photo -

Infectious diseases specialists call the medical field to be ready to deal with the impact of climate change on spreading diseases, such as malaria, Valley fever, E. coli and Lyme disease. A team of infectious diseases experts called for more awareness and preparedness in the medical field to deal with the impact of climate change on the spread of diseases. Their article, published today in JAMA raises the alarm about the emergence and spread of harmful pathogens. The authors also urge the medical community to update their education and training and take steps to combat global warming. "Clinicians need to be ready to deal with the changes in the infectious disease landscape," said lead author George R. Thompson. Thompson is a professor at the UC Davis School of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology. "Learning about the connection between climate change and disease behavior can help guide diagnoses, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases." Thompson encouraged physicians and practitioners to maintain "a high index of suspicion of diseases on the move." "I think with improvements in our understanding of the disease, there will be more testing and we'll miss fewer cases that way," he said. Changing infectious diseases landscape Infectious diseases can be caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites. Many of these diseases are transmitted from animal to human or from human to human. One type of infectious disease is vector-borne diseases. They are caused by pathogens carried by vectors like mosquitoes, fleas and ticks. Some diseases caused by vectors aredengue, malaria and Zika. Changing rain patterns are expanding vectors' range and their active periods. Shorter, warmer winters and longer summers are also linked to more vector-borne diseases. For example, diseases caused by ticks (like babesiosis and Lyme disease) are now occurring in the winter too. They're also being found in regions farther west and north than in the past. "We're seeing cases of tick-borne diseases in January and February," said first author of the study Matthew Phillips. Phillips is an infectious diseases fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. "The tick season is starting earlier and with more active ticks in a wider range. This means that the number of tick bites is going up and with it, the tick-borne diseases." Another concern is malaria. The mosquitos that transmit the disease are expanding northward, a climate-induced change. Changing rain patterns have led to more mosquitos and a higher disease transmission rate. "As an infectious disease clinician, one of the scariest things that happened last summer was the locally acquired cases of malaria. We saw cases in Texas and Florida and then all the way north in Maryland, which was really surprising. They happened to people who didn't travel outside the U.S.," Phillips said. Zoonotic diseases, such as plague and hantavirus (carried by rodents), are also showing changes in incidence and location. The experts noted changes in animal migration patterns and natural ranges. Due to their habitat loss, wild animals are coming closer to humans. With that comes a higher risk of animal diseases spilling over to humans and for new pathogens to develop. The study also pointed to the emergence of new fungal infections, such as Candida auris (C. auris), and changes in the location of some fungal pathogens. For example, the fungal infection Coccidioides (also known as Valley fever) was endemic to hot, dry areas in California and Arizona. But Valley fever was recently diagnosed as far north as Washington State. Changes in rain patterns and coastal water temperature can also affect the spread of waterborne diseases, such as E. coli and Vibrio. According to the team, the sea level is rising, and storm surges and coastal flooding that used to be rare or extreme events are happening more frequently. Call for medical community to take steps Over the last few years, infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, impacted the world enormously. "They can spring up and cause absolute chaos for the whole world and then we kind of forget about them for a while. Yet, the epidemic and pandemic potential of infections really mandates that we stay involved with federal funding agencies and advisory groups to make sure that infectious diseases don't slip back too far on the public's radar," Thomspon explained. The team called for stronger measures for infectious disease surveillance and urged medical educators to train clinicians to anticipate the changes in infectious disease patterns. "It's not a hopeless situation. There are distinct steps that we can take to prepare for and help deal with these changes. Clinicians see first-hand the impact of climate change on people's health. As such, they have a role in advocating for policies that can slow climate change," Phillips said. Regina C. LaRocque, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and infectious diseases physician at Harvard Medical School, is a coauthor of this study. This study was partially supported by National Institutes of Health grants T32AI007061 and 5U19AI166798.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires' Disease (APLD) says new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommendations for legionella mitigation are a significant step forward in stopping the spread of the waterborne illness that is fatal in 10 to 30 percent of cases. "We applaud the EPA for setting new guidelines to better ensure the safety of our water," said Tonya Winders, Executive Director of the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires' Disease. "Preventing the spread of Legionnaires' Disease is attainable with the right preparation and planning. We are calling on state legislatures to use these recommendations as the basis for implementing better policies to minimize opportunistic pathogens like legionella in our drinking water system." The Report of the Microbial and Disinfection Byproducts Rule Revisions Working Group contains 13 guidelines and includes a recommendation to "Raise the national minimum disinfectant residual requirement from the current value of 'detectable' and include a range for consideration of setting a minimum specific value of up to 0.5 mg/L for free chlorine and 0.7 mg/L for total chlorine for chloraminating systems." "Many water systems maintain only a 'detect' level of disinfectant free chlorine, which is simply not an effective level especially when it comes to killing or controlling legionella growth, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' Disease," said Dr. Hung Cheung, APLD Board Member and Founder & President of Cogency. "Increasing the minimum disinfectant level at the point of use is an important recommendation we have been advocating for a long time and it is one we hope all 50 states will use as their standard moving forward." The Working Group also has a recommendation to, "Develop and implement a legionella public awareness campaign targeting smaller-scale building owner/renters (e.g., single family residences) to elevate improved building water quality management practices." "We have ignored the lion's share of Legionnaires' Disease cases, which is individual, sporadic cases, for far too long," said environmentalist activist Erin Brockovich. "It is time to recognize the facts and focus on what is happening in people's homes. The recommendations are a big step forward in terms of improving water quality throughout the country." According to the CDC, 96 percent of all Legionnaires' Disease cases are individual, sporadic cases and not related to outbreaks. Legionnaires' Disease is a waterborne illness, caused by Legionella bacteria, which is present in biofilms in water systems. Disruptions and changes in our water systems can increase the risk of exposure to legionella bacteria. and the best way to minimize this risk, is to take a root cause approach. The Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires' Disease is recommending the following steps for prevention: Increase investment in water infrastructure and technology that more effectively reduces or even eliminates Legionella bacteria from the water going through a water treatment plant and the municipal distribution system. Utilize the EPA, working with water utilities, to take a more active role in minimizing legionella in the public water systems, including more robust monitoring and testing programs. Notify communities, including buildings and individual homeowners, when disruptions in the water supply system have occurred, as these disruptions could lead to higher contaminant levels, including Legionella, entering the water systems inside the buildings and homes. Require public health officials to conduct comprehensive investigations of Legionnaires' disease cases, including sampling drinking water at multiple points, to ensure the bacteria's true source is found. "We have seen a number of states such as Illinois incorporate these reforms into their water management requirements, but more states need to become more proactive in protecting the health of their residents," Winders said. "These guidelines are an important step in that process." The full Working Group report can be found here: For more information on Legionnaires' Disease and the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires' Disease, visit the Alliance's website: . SOURCE Prevent Legionnaires'