As program manager for the U.S. Agency for International Development Environmental Health Project, CDM led hundreds of environmental health activities worldwide, strengthening water supply and sanitation infrastructure, reducing childhood disease and mortality, preventing the spread of infectious diseases, and supporting economic development by alleviating critical health challenges. By involving stakeholders and employing appropriate tools and technologies, these initiatives have empowered local communities with sustainable strategies to manage their health needs far into the future. The stories of relief span 34 countries:
-
When Nicaragua faced a massive health crisis following Hurricane Mitch, the team's emergency response and hygiene intervention improved health and sanitation for 215,000 people. Safe waste disposal increased by 37 percent and diarrheal disease in young children decreased significantly.
-
After war destroyed infrastructure and threatened public health in the West Bank, water systems were repaired, emergency commodities procured, and supplies restocked for hundreds of thousands of people without safe water.
-
In Madagascar, household access to water and sanitation facilities increased and severe malnutrition in children under 5 was cut by more than 60 percent—from precedent-setting population-health-environment activities that served as a catalyst for the integration of these three strategic elements.
-
In India, an innovative environmental health approach improved life for 50,000 urban people in 73 slums.
-
A groundbreaking hygiene improvement framework proved so effective in target locations that it has been adopted by the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Bank, and others as the new global hygiene improvement standard.