Dissolved Oxygen Levels in Drinking Water and Priorities for a Pandemic-Resilient Future

Abstract

Arturo Solís Herrera and María del Carmen Arias Esparza

Waterborne diseases are prevalent in many parts of the world and pose a major health risk for human populations.  This occurs particularly in developing countries lacking sanitary infrastructures and relying on the use of untreated surface waters as drinking waters.

60% of the world population does not have access to reliable sanitation, 30% do not have access to safe drinking water, and about two billion people consume water from sources contaminated with fecal matter. The consumption of water from such sources has been associated with the occurrence of diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, polio, and probably Ebola y Hanta virus.

The 2026 GPMB report, A World on the edge: Priorities for a Pandemic-Resilient Future argues that infectious outbreaks are becoming more frequent and damaging, as societies have lost resilience from crises such as Ebola, COVID-19 and monkeypox. This report uses the GPMB Monitoring Framework to assess how the impacts of the six new Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEICs) of the past decade have evolved and identifies the areas where they are now most acute. To rebuild trust and advance equity, the world requires independent pandemic risk monitoring, equitable access to countermeasures, and sustainable financing, enabled by sustained political attention.

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