Surindar K Dhesi

University of Birmingham · School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

This study conducted an in-depth systematic review of literature to explore the context of water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) sustainability and resilience in refugee communities. Our results indicate growing concerns, given the two-decade waiting period for refugees to achieve repatriation/integration into host communities, and the bulk of their...

To understand how our urban world is changing, we need to investigate how seemingly technical or natural objects are embedded in our understanding, or in brief, to acknowledge that knowledges (in plural) are political. There are multiple ways of knowing our environment and these multiple ways matter in how we engage with it. Understanding of some i...

The paper documents environmental health conditions and healthcare access challenges faced by internally displaced people (IDPs) from Borno State living in informal settlements in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2020, during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative study with 32 IDPs suggests a high vulnerability to COVID-19. Their accommodat...

Despite the increasing number of foreign seafarers working in the Korean shipping industry and the growing concern for psycho-emotional stress due to discrimination in the maritime sector, few studies have focused on the working environment of foreign seafarers on South Korean vessels. This study aimed to determine whether foreign seafarers perceiv...

Waste management is a major challenge in Nigeria, where around 32 million tons of waste is generated annually including 13 million tonnes of agricultural waste and 2.5 million tons of plastic waste. Currently, the waste management system is very inefficient where almost 70% of the waste ends up in landfills, sewers, beaches and water bodies causing...

The onboard training environment is important for the continuity of cadets’ maritime careers and for the wider industry. Various studies have been conducted with the aim of improving the onboard training environment of cadets in various respects including education, health and safety, and sexual harassment. However, there is a lack of research that...

As leaders of civil society, governments have a prime responsibility to communicate climate change information in order to motivate their citizens to mitigate and adapt. This study compares the approaches of the United Kingdom (UK) and Hong Kong (HK) governments. Although different in size and population, the UK and HK have similar climate change a...

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the relevance of public health professionals all over the world, in particular Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs), who played a major role in the containment of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. However, as in past disasters, their involvement was oriented towards urgent tasks, and did not fully utilize EHP...

Objectives To thematically synthesise primary qualitative studies that explore challenges and facilitators for health professionals providing primary healthcare for refugees and asylum seekers in high-income countries. Design Systematic review and qualitative thematic synthesis. Methods Searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Web of Sci...

The ongoing emergency for refugees is having profound and hidden health consequences for thousands of displaced persons who live in informal ‘makeshift’ camps across Europe. This interdisciplinary paper reports the results of the first environmental health assessment in such a location, in what was Europe’s largest informal refugee camp in 2016, in...

A significant outcome of the global crisis for refugees has been the abandonment of forced migrants to live in makeshift camps inside the EU. This paper details how state authorities have prevented refugees from surviving with formal provision, leading directly to thousands having to live in hazardous spaces such as the informal camp in Calais, the...

Background: American cockroaches (Periplaneta americana) need to be controlled because of their ability to cause ill-health effects to humans. Toxic gel baits are one effective control method for cockroach control. P. americana are thought to prefer toxic baits over other food sources and may skew our understanding of bait preference in natural str...

Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) emerged from debates about the Health and Social Care Bill (2011) as a key coordinating mechanism or steward for local health and social care systems. For many this is yet a further attempt to improve coordination between health and social care services which historically has been a mixed experience. The rationale...

Introduction Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) emerged from debates about the Health and Social Care Bill (2011) as a key coordinating mechanism or steward for local health and social care systems (House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee, 2013, 14). For many this is yet a further attempt to improve coordination between health a...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consolidate policy, research, evidence and good practice around strategies tackling fuel poverty and affordable warmth for older people aged over 60 to support the development of more effective services for this life course stage and to tackle physical and mental health inequalities. Design/methodology/app...

There has been renewed recognition that proactive strategies and interventions can address the social determinants of health, and the environmental health profession is well placed to effect positive change in many of these determinants. This qualitative research has revealed differences in the perceptions, experiences, and understandings of eviden...

Aims: The aim of the wider research was to explore Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) during their early development stages, with a focus on health inequalities and the role of environmental health (EH). This article presents empirical findings relating to challenges facing the EH profession in the new English public health (PH) system and offers...

The development of an evidence based environmental health is essential if the contribution that environmental health makes to public health is to be acknowledged and fully exploited. This was discussed in some detail in our previous research briefing (Barratt et al 2013), here we outline practical suggestions for both EH students and practitioners...

This research briefing considers why the environmental health profession needs to become more research active and evidence based. We first explore what we mean by 'environmental health' and 'evidence based environment health' before explaining why a stronger research culture is desirable. We finish by introducing a vision of what evidence based env...

Environmental health (EH) professionals have long spoken of the need to become more research active and evidence based in their practice but so far little has been written about how to achieve this. In response this eBook seeks to explain research, evidence and publication in a way that can be used by students and professionals at all levels and in...