Preventing disease and upholding public health through architecture

2015-08-12T14:12:00-04:00

Archive (“Architecture for Health in Vulnerable Environments”) proposes “bringing attention to the built environment and how it is a transmission vehicle for the spread and control of a respiratory illness like TB” [...] Archive is starting small, with an as-yet-uninitiated project on respiratory health and indoor pollutants in Ethiopia and projects on TB awareness in London.

More on the intersection of architecture and public health:

How concrete floors can prevent child deaths in Bangladesh

2014-08-22T19:34:00-04:00

An initiative from Architecture for Health in Vulnerable Environments (ARCHIVE) is working to decrease infectious disease rates in Bangladesh through a simple housing intervention: concrete floors. Homes with dirt or mud floors are prime gateways for gastrointestinal and parasitic pathogens, and both are widespread in the country's more vulnerable populations.

Children under five are particularly at risk, who are disproportionally impacted by such diseases to the point of morbidity or death. ARCHIVE's "High Fives" project aims to install concrete floors in 500 Bangladeshi homes by 2015 — a simple adjustment that ARCHIVE estimates would reduce children's risk of contracting parasites by over 75%, severely undercutting disease and mortality rates.

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Preventing disease and upholding public health through architecture

How concrete floors can prevent child deaths in Bangladesh