Water Pollution, Public Health, and Socioeconomic Drivers: A Global Multidisciplinary Data-Driven Analysis

Abstract

Water pollution is a prominent problem of global concern with dire consequences to the health and socioeconomic development of the population. The present paper presents the evidence-based, in-depth analysis of the correlations between the water quality indicators, the prevalence of waterborne diseases, and the socioeconomic determinants on the grounds of the global dataset. The contaminant levels, turbidity, concentration of nitrate, the dissolved oxygen and the number of bacteria and the public health effects like diarrheal, cholera, typhoid and infant mortality are the environmental variables that have been incorporated in the analytical process. The moderating effects are determined by the inclusion of socioeconomic variables such as GDP per capita, access to sanitation, access to health care and urbanization. The results show that there are very strong positive correlations between the pollution indicators and the disease prevalence, and the improved socioeconomic status reduces the risk of health. The analysis of multivariate regression indicates that the predictors of the disease burden are bacterial contamination and the level of nitrate, but the possible protection factors are sanitation and access to healthcare. The results point to the need to use a multidisciplinary approach in resolving the complex environmental health issues. The article highlights the importance of the interventions to incorporate environmental management and socioeconomic benefits in order to realize sustainable population health.