Waste Management and Vector-borne diseases

Waste disposal is one of the fundamental principles of public health with critical importance to the management of vector-borne diseases. This paper seeks to discuss the relationship between sustainable waste disposal strategies and health impacts with a focus on sanitization. Insects, particularly mosquitoes, flies, and rodents can spread diseases like malaria, dengue fever, and cholera and diseases spread through water and food, soil-borne pathogens can also be found in unmanaged waste environments. The emergence and spread of the respective diseases on the international level, plus constant trends of urbanization and variations in climate, show the necessity to develop more effective techniques of waste management. By identifying literature on waste management systems, their efficiency in vector control, and the consequences for high-population, and low-resource cities. Potential interventions for the reduction of habitats of vectors, and thereby of health risks related to waste management, can be understood by looking at the range of experiences across countries including some like Japan and Singapore, where the regulation of waste management is quite advanced. This paper suggests concrete actions to help policymakers, urbanists, and healthcare specialists design reasonable waste management systems. The results reinforce the importance of measures of cross-cutting waste management as a fundamental part of disease control and public health interventions worldwide.