Drug addiction is a serious issue in today's society. Women are giving birth to infants who are born addicted to illicit drugs, and these mothers are not able to care for their infants safely and competently without training and support. This article examines the prevalence of the problem. It also discusses the possible impact of parenting skills classes, as part of recovery efforts, for women seeking recovery who have recently given birth. Several programs already in place in the U.S have shown positive results for these mothers and their infants. Infants exposed in utero to illicit drugs need to be given all of the resources society can provide in an effort to stop the intergenerational cycle of drug addiction.

There has been a growing concern about waterborne disease prevalence, especially in underserved communities. Stormwater best management practices (BMPs) can control surface runoff, and improve water quality by restoring the pre-development hydrologic cycle while providing social, economic, and health benefits. Although stormwater BMPs have been proven to effectively impact runoff quantity and quality, their effectiveness in waterborne disease reduction has not been investigated. In this study, we quantified for the first time the impact of BMPs on reducing waterborne diseases in underserved communities. We developed a geographic information system (GIS) – based framework to create multi-metric vulnerability indices identifying counties’ susceptibility to waterborne diseases considering environmental justice (race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status) and at-risk age groups (under 5 and over 74) in Florida. The most vulnerable counties were then investigated for disease reduction by stormwater BMP implementation. Our findings indicated disproportionate occurrences of waterborne diseases in communities with higher minorities (Hispanics and Nonwhites), at-risk age groups, and low-income populations. Among evaluated BMPs, wetland basin, porous pavement, and retention pond were the most efficient in reducing cases of waterborne diseases with over 80% efficiency. Our findings demonstrate the need for stormwater BMPs that take socioeconomic status and racial diversity into account.

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