Researchers assess solutions to combat infectious disease, environmental threats

In a large-scale effort to reduce human infectious diseases and conserve human and animal life, researchers have collated and reviewed the evidence for 46 solutions that aim to advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. These solutions, published Aug. 1 in the Lancet Planetary Health, cover a broad swath of ideological and geographical ground, from accessing health care in Borneo, to restoring forests in Madagascar, to controlling pythons in the Florida Everglades.

“These win-win solutions were widespread and diverse,” said Dr. Kathryn Fiorella, assistant professor in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health at the College of Veterinary Medicine and one of 28 multidisciplinary authors on the paper. “They were found on all continents except Antarctica, they reduced burdens of most types of human parasites or pathogens and they addressed most of the major environmental threats identified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.”