Over the past year, COVID-19 has revealed the importance of understanding the linkage between humans, animals, and our environment. The pandemic has also highlighted the urgent need for interdisciplinary collaborations to prevent the emergence of new diseases.

In order to shed light on this topic, EMPHNET held a webinar titled “COVID-19 Pandemic and Global Environmental Health: Effects and Lessons Learned” on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. The webinar brought experts together to introduce global and regional perspectives as well as specific country experiences related to COVID-19 and its impact on environmental health.

The session was led by three subject matter experts, namely Global WASH Advisor /International Medical Corps, Mr. Syed Yasir Ahmad; Associate Professor at the Department of Environmental Health and Director of the Interfaculty Graduate Environmental Sciences Program of the American University of Beirut, Dr. May Massoud; and National Sanitation and Hygiene Coordinator at the Federal Ministry of Health, Sudan, Dr. Asia Dahab. Furthermore, the session was facilitated by Public Health Expert and Associate Professor at Baghdad University, Dr. Faris Lami.

In his opening address, Dr. Lami welcomed the webinar speakers and attendees and introduced the webinar’s focus. He then handed the floor over to Mr. Syed Yasir Ahmad who presented the Global WASH landscape through a COVID-19 Lens. Mr. Ahmad stated that the COVID-19 situation has slowed down the humanitarian response, particularly for the non-COVID-19 emergencies and interventions.

In his presentation, he also focused on WASH coverage during the pandemic, increased water demands, medical waste, the efficiency of wastewater treatment, and contamination impacts. He stated that a clear lesson learned from the pandemic is that water and sanitation systems in underserved areas must be improved.

Mr. Ahmad then ended his presentation by pointing out the areas that the WASH sector needs to focus on. These areas include supporting water and sanitation service providers, and developing an in-depth understanding of environmental degradation and climate change.

The second presenter, Dr. May Massoud spoke about the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Environmental Determinants of Health. She shed light on the environmental perspectives of COVID-19, while explaining how the pandemic has led to a dramatic loss in human life worldwide. This disruption has brought about several positive and negative effects on the environment. Positive effects included: an improvement in air quality, reduction in criteria pollutants and emissions, noise and water pollution, and ecological restoration. Conversely, negative effects included: increased medical waste and plastic waste, soil, and water pollution, increased municipal solid waste, and decreased recycling activities.

Dr. Massoud then shared some lessons learned from the pandemic and their implications. She stated that it is essential to set policy guidelines and implement them at international and national levels for proper management of waste, and wastewater treatment. Towards the conclusion of her presentation, Dr. Massoud highlighted the need for implementing strong regulations for industries to treat their wastes, and to promote reusing and recycling of wastes.

From her end, Dr. Asia Dahab presented the Effects of COVID-19 on Environmental health in Sudan. She gave a general overview of the situation in Sudan, and then she talked about the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on environmental health and the health sector at large in Sudan.

She added that COVID-19 has increased the pressure on an already strained economic and humanitarian situation in the country. She then showcased some innovative solutions designed and implemented in Sudan, such as solar hand pumps that helped effectively scale up access to water, and innovative handwashing stations that used pedals to minimize the risk of contamination. Ending her presentation on a high note, she stated that during the pandemic, youth involvement helped in promoting effective interventions especially in the area of innovation, chlorination, and hygiene promotion.

The presentations were followed by a Q&A session facilitated by Dr. Lami, during which participants contributed to the discussion through their comments and questions. Dr. Lami then thanked the attendees and speakers for their participation and wrapped up the session with some recommendations, and key remarks including a need to have another session to delve deeper into this topic and to create some tangible activities in order to mitigate threats and to capitalize on the positive impacts of COVID-19.

A total of 225 attendees joined the webinar, deeming it another success in the EMPHNET WEBi Series. Click Here to see the full webinar recording.