The increasing generation of agro-industrial waste has intensified soil and water contamination, as well as the eutrophication of water bodies, impacting biodiversity and human health. This highlights the need for responsible management to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 6, 12, 13, 14, and 15, which promote health, access to clean water, responsible consumption, climate action, and the protection of life on land and below water. This study aimed to produce activated carbon from cocoa, baru, and monguba residues for the removal of contaminants dyes (methylene blue, bromocresol green, and methyl red) presented in wastewater. The three materials were carbonized at 500 °C for one hour under a nitrogen atmosphere and activated with H₃PO₄. The samples were characterized using TGA, SEM, XRD, FT-IR, pH_PZC, and ASAP, in addition to conducting kinetic and thermodynamic parameter assays for the dyes. Monguba carbon exhibited the highest pore volume (1.57 cm³·g⁻¹), surface area (1604 m²·g⁻¹), and adsorption capacity for methylene blue and methyl red (50 mg·g⁻¹). The data were analyzed using pseudo-first and pseudo-second order kinetic models. It was concluded that monguba carbon shows potential for the sustainable removal of organic dyes and molecules with similar characteristics in contaminated water or wastewater.

Discrimination and limited access to healthcare services in remote areas can affect vaccination coverage. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate vaccination coverage for children living in quilombola communities and rural settlements in the central region of Brazil during their first year of life and to analyze the factors associated with incomplete vaccination. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on children born between 2015 and 2017. The percentage of children who received all vaccines recommended by the National Immunization Program in Brazil by 11 months and 29 days was used to calculate immunization coverage. Children who received the following vaccines were considered as having a complete basic vaccination schedule: one dose of BCG; three doses of Hepatitis B, of Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis (DPT), of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and of Poliovirus (Polio); two doses of Rotavirus, of 10-valent pneumococcal (PCV10), and of Serogroup C meningococcal conjugate (MenC); and one dose of Yellow Fever (YF). Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) and other doses recommended at or after 12 months were not included. Consolidated logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with incomplete vaccination coverage. Overall vaccination coverage was 52.8% (95% CI: 45.5–59.9%) and ranged from 70.4% for the Yellow Fever vaccine to 78.3% for the Rotavirus vaccine, with no significant differences between the quilombola and settler groups. Notably, the likelihood of incomplete general vaccination coverage was higher among children who did not receive a visit from a healthcare professional. Urgent strategies are required to achieve and ensure health equity for this unique and traditionally distinct group with low vaccination coverage.

Low concentrations of fluoride (F⁻) in drinking water are beneficial for oral health, but the natural occurrence of high F⁻ content has been reported in various groundwater sources, posing a continuous ingestion threat to humans. The utilization of biochar (BC) produced from residual biomass has emerged as a technically, economically, and environmentally sustainable alternative for fluoride removal through adsorption. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the physicochemical characteristics of BC derived from coffee grounds and the influence of various factors on the adsorption process of F⁻ in aqueous media, including pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, temperature, and initial F⁻ concentration. The BC exhibited a surface area of 12.94 m²·g⁻¹ and a pore volume of 0.0349 cm³·g⁻¹. The adsorption process was strongly pH dependent, demonstrating a significant decline in performance as pH increased from 2.0 onwards. The majority of F⁻ removal occurred within the first 5 min, reaching adsorption equilibrium after 1 h of testing, regardless of the initial F⁻ concentration employed. The data fitting to the Webber–Morris model indicated a two-step adsorption process on BC, with the first step being external surface sorption and the second step being intra-articular diffusion. The process was determined to be endergonic, and the data satisfactorily matched both the Freundlich and Langmuir models, with a q_m of 0.53 mg·L⁻¹ (T = 55 °C), indicating the predominance of physisorption. The findings suggest the potential of coffee grounds for BC production; nevertheless, surface structure modifications are necessary to enhance F⁻ affinity and subsequently improve adsorption capacity.

Outbreaks of dengue fever, Zika and chikungunya are realities that manifest themselves in almost the entire world. These are diseases whose main vector is Aedes aegypti. This is a synanthropic that needs three factors in order to survive: water, food, and shelter, which are available under favorable socio-environmental conditions. The goal of this work was to identify and evaluate the pertinence of environmental variables that can allow the growth of Aedes aegypti breeding spots and the eventual increase of dengue fever, Zika and chikungunya in rural areas. A systematic literature review was conducted by searching for works published in bibliometric databases, and the results were analyzed in qualitative and quantitative forms (statistical analysis). This search found 1007 works, of which 50 were considered pertinent to the subject. Each work was analyzed individually, and 16 distinct variables were found to be relevant and were afterward grouped into three categories: sanitation (SAN), climatology (CLIM) and socio-environmental factors, which are named “integrative” (INT) variables. The use of two or more categories was present in 52% of the works, highlighting the SAN + INT combination. Around 16% of the works have included rural areas, relating the arbovirus diseases in these regions to socio-economic and sanitation conditions. The paper analyses the impact of water characteristics on the growth of the mosquito, as well as on the increase of the three diseases. The monitoring of these 16 variables may allow for better arbovirus disease control and could be integrated into entomological vigilance programs for helping make decision processes concerning the prevention of diseases associated with water.

Urban and industrial effluents, stormwater, road runoff, agricultural runoff, urban or mine waste deposits and fuel storage sites can lead to the contamination of water sources with compounds that are hard to biodegrade, such as heavy metals, whose removal requires advanced and expensive technologies. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the UN and the current requirements in terms of energy efficiency, reduction of carbon emissions, water reuse, waste valorization and preservation of public health, have led to a rethink concerning the typology of technologies for the treatment of water and the production of drinking water. Electrocoagulation (EC) stands out in this scenario due to its high efficiency in the removal of several pollutants, production of low sludge volumes and adaptability to the use of renewable energies. This is in addition to the ease with which it can be combined with other water treatment technologies. This work presents a literature review to systematize the use of EC for the removal of transition metals in water to produce drinking water, since these elements are present in several natural water sources and are parameters used in the legislation of many countries for the quality control of drinking water. The works found were analyzed in detail, and relationships between pre-set variables and categories were determined through regression analysis. Generally, it was found that EC is a highly efficient technology for the removal of transition metals in water (above 75% for most metals), specifically through parallel plates technologies with iron and aluminum electrodes with a minimum spacing of 1 cm and density minimum applied current of 10 A/m².