TY - JOUR
T1 - Wastewater monitoring can anchor global disease surveillance systems
AU - Global Wastewater Action Group
AU - Keshaviah, Aparna
AU - Diamond, Megan B.
AU - Wade, Matthew J.
AU - Scarpino, Samuel V.
AU - Ahmed, Warish
AU - Amman, Fabian
AU - Aruna, Olusola
AU - Badilla-Aguilar, Andrei
AU - Bar-Or, Itay
AU - Bergthaler, Andreas
AU - Bines, Julie E.
AU - Bivins, Aaron W.
AU - Boehm, Alexandria B.
AU - Brault, Jean Martin
AU - Burnet, Jean Baptiste
AU - Chapman, Joanne R.
AU - Chaudhuri, Angela
AU - de Roda Husman, Ana Maria
AU - Delatolla, Robert
AU - Dennehy, John J.
AU - Diamond, Megan Beth
AU - Donato, Celeste
AU - Duizer, Erwin
AU - Egwuenu, Abiodun
AU - Erster, Oran
AU - Fatta-Kassinos, Despo
AU - Gaggero, Aldo
AU - Gilpin, Deirdre F.
AU - Gilpin, Brent J.
AU - Graber, Tyson E.
AU - Green, Christopher A.
AU - Handley, Amanda
AU - Hewitt, Joanne
AU - Holm, Rochelle H.
AU - Insam, Heribert
AU - Johnson, Marc C.
AU - Johnson, Rabia
AU - Jones, Davey L.
AU - Julian, Timothy R.
AU - Jyothi, Asha
AU - Kohn, Tamar
AU - Kuhn, Katrin G.
AU - La Rosa, Giuseppina
AU - Lesenfants, Marie
AU - Manuel, Douglas G.
AU - D'Aoust, Patrick M.
AU - Markt, Rudolf
AU - McGrath, John W.
AU - Medema, Gertjan
AU - Moe, Christine L.
N1 - Funding Information:
This publication is based on research funded by The Rockefeller Foundation, with additional funding provided by Mathematica to support manuscript development, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and writing. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of The Rockefeller Foundation. The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Helen Stembridge, who supported the concept and preparation of the Global Roundtable; Jasmine Grimsley, who provided expert input during survey development; and Xindi C Hu, who generated the map showing the population coverage of wastewater monitoring programmes in participating countries.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
PY - 2023/6
Y1 - 2023/6
N2 - To inform the development of global wastewater monitoring systems, we surveyed programmes in 43 countries. Most programmes monitored predominantly urban populations. In high-income countries (HICs), composite sampling at centralised treatment plants was most common, whereas grab sampling from surface waters, open drains, and pit latrines was more typical in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Almost all programmes analysed samples in-country, with an average processing time of 2·3 days in HICs and 4·5 days in LMICs. Whereas 59% of HICs regularly monitored wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 variants, only 13% of LMICs did so. Most programmes share their wastewater data internally, with partnering organisations, but not publicly. Our findings show the richness of the existing wastewater monitoring ecosystem. With additional leadership, funding, and implementation frameworks, thousands of individual wastewater initiatives can coalesce into an integrated, sustainable network for disease surveillance—one that minimises the risk of overlooking future global health threats.
AB - To inform the development of global wastewater monitoring systems, we surveyed programmes in 43 countries. Most programmes monitored predominantly urban populations. In high-income countries (HICs), composite sampling at centralised treatment plants was most common, whereas grab sampling from surface waters, open drains, and pit latrines was more typical in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Almost all programmes analysed samples in-country, with an average processing time of 2·3 days in HICs and 4·5 days in LMICs. Whereas 59% of HICs regularly monitored wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 variants, only 13% of LMICs did so. Most programmes share their wastewater data internally, with partnering organisations, but not publicly. Our findings show the richness of the existing wastewater monitoring ecosystem. With additional leadership, funding, and implementation frameworks, thousands of individual wastewater initiatives can coalesce into an integrated, sustainable network for disease surveillance—one that minimises the risk of overlooking future global health threats.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85159759676&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00170-5
DO - 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00170-5
M3 - Review article
SN - 2214-109X
VL - 11
SP - e976-e981
JO - The Lancet Global Health
JF - The Lancet Global Health
IS - 6
ER -