Mailman School of Public Health
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)

The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that 13 million United States residents are exposed to drinking water contaminated by Arsenic. In South Asia, where Arsenic concentrations reach levels one hundred times higher, an estimated 100 million people are exposed, including roughly 57 million in Bangladesh alone. Contaminated drinking water and soil can lead to exposure to Arsenic and Manganese. Such contamination is associated with major public health, remedial, legal and environmental policy problems in the United States and abroad. Funded and administered by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in a coordinated effort with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the interdisciplinary scientists of the Columbia University Superfund Research Program are collaborating to reduce hazardous exposures to Arsenic and Manganese in the United States and Bangladesh. Arsenic is found at 640 Superfund sites, and Manganese at 359 sites, and the potential impact of these metals reaches far beyond the boundaries of Superfund sites. Many uncertainties persist about the health effects and geochemistry of Arsenic and Manganese because of the complex chemistry of these elements in soils, sediments, drinking water and in the human body.

Center for Global Health and Economic Development (CGHED)

The Millennium Villages are sites in sub-Saharan Africa where the Earth Institute works to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through implementation of comprehensive, community-based, low-cost, integrated rural development strategies. The burden of disease in some low-income regions, including severe under-nutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, is a major challenge to economic growth and therefore must be addressed directly in any comprehensive development strategy.

All interventions are undertaken within the local cultural and social contexts of the Millennium Villages, as no two communities are the same. Partnerships with local, district and national governments are key to improving existing health systems for continued success on a larger scale.

Center for Globalization and Sustainable Development (CGSD)

The International Advisory Panel on the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) of India is a seven-year initiative, begun in 2005, that addresses pressing health challenges facing the rural areas of India by improving the availability and accessibility of quality health care, especially for the poor and for women and children.

Center for National Health Development in Ethiopia (CNHDE)

Since 2004, the Earth Institute, in coordination with the Ethiopian national government, is providing science and technical guidance, advice and support to the Ethiopian Ministry of Health’s Health Extension Program (HEP). HEP is an innovative community-based primary health care delivery system aimed at providing universal coverage of essential promotive and preventive health services, introduced in recognition of failure to reach communities in remote parts of Ethiopia. To date, HEP has deployed more than 30 thousand health extension workers throughout the country.

International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI)

Malaria, cholera, meningitis and dengue fever are only a few of the 14 communicable diseases recently identified as being climate-sensitive by the World Health Organization. The International Research Institute for Climate and Society seeks not only to better understand the linkages between climate and these diseases, but to demonstrate advantages in using climate information to reduce exposures in vulnerable populations or to guide more effective interventions. Through collaboration with PAHO/WHO, IRI provides training and technical support to countries and regional health partners on the development and implementation of disease surveillance systems in Africa and Latin America.

International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI)
Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)

Meningococcal meningitis is one of the most feared diseases in Africa because of its rapid onset, high fatality rates and potential to cause long-term disabilities. Meningitis outbreaks in the African Belt have been associated with climatic, epidemiological, and demographic and socioeconomic conditions.

The International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) are working together in a project looking at quantifying the relative influence of these different factors. The project proposes to jointly explore the environmental and demographic risk factors as predictors for epidemic outbreaks at national and district levels in view of building a statistical predictive model, exploring the potential of satellite observations and model outputs combined with available epidemiological and demographic information as inputs to meningitis risk map. The study will focus on Niger, part of Africa’s Meningitis Belt, where a 20 year epidemiological weekly data at district level are available from WHO. The project is funded by a grant from NASA’s Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES), Earth Science Applications Feasibility Studies.

Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)

Understanding the location and spatial distribution of the world’s poor is vital not only for targeting specific poverty alleviation efforts, but also for addressing the root causes of persistent poverty and identifying and overcoming the diverse obstacles to sustainable development. In collaboration with the World Bank and other groups, the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) has developed a unique online data resource on the distribution of poverty around the world. The Poverty Mapping Project site includes detailed sub-national data on poverty, both in the least-developed countries and in other countries where significant pockets of poverty persist. Such data allow researchers to test hypotheses about the possible roles environmental, health and economic factors play in persistent poverty and in the success or failure of poverty alleviation efforts. Poverty data are also vital in developing efficient and effective strategies for poverty reduction and sustainable development, and for assessing progress toward the Millennium Development Goals.

Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)

Migration is often a coping strategy for poor populations faced with uncertain, agriculture-based incomes. Building upon theoretical and empirical advances in migration research, the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) collaborated with scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study migration patterns in the Nang Rong district of northeast Thailand. The project used life-history data to examine migration patterns and assess what factors determine different migration strategies and how early migration experience affects a person’s place of residence later in life.

The Access Project, Center for Global Health and Economic Development (CGHED)

The Access Project, an initiative of the Center for Global Health and Economic Development, follows a simple model to improve the health of impoverished people: apply business and management skills to health systems in poor countries to increase access to life-saving drugs and critical health services. In Rwanda, the project applies its unique approach to health centers, the only medical facilities within reach for most of the country's population of over 10 million. With investments in management, training and infrastructure, the project equips these facilities and their staff to provide sustainable, high-quality health care for their communities.

The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases

The Earth Institute is a founding member and key partner of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases. The Global Network is a partnership formed in 2006 to raise the profile of neglected diseases and to stimulate a paradigm shift in disease control efforts. The major public-private partnerships devoted to the control of individual diseases have agreed to work together in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) to design an integrated drug administration platform that addresses seven neglected tropical diseases (NTDs): trachoma (eye infections), soil-transmitted helminths (hookworm, ascariasis, trichuriasis), onchocerciasis (river blindness), schistosomiasis (snail fever) and lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis).

In addition, the Earth Institute’s Center for Global Health and Economic Development has initiatives in Ethiopia and Rwanda supporting NTD work on the ground. In Rwanda, the Access Project has helped the Ministry of Health create a national NTD program, completed the first comprehensive NTD mapping in the country, and treated millions of children and adults for NTDs. In Ethiopia, the Center for National Health Development in Ethiopia supports comprehensive NTD work in the Millennium Village cluster in Koraro.