2022 News
December
Senator Durbin and Water Insecurity
December 14, 2022
Sera Young and colleagues spent a Friday afternoon with Senator Richard Durbin and his staff to discuss water insecurity. It is wonderful to see that the Senator is committed to water security for all, both domestically and internationally.
November
Water Insecurity is Stressing Mental Health
November 17, 2022
Axios highlighted a new study by Sera Young that investigates who experiences the highest rates of water insecurity in 31 countries by going beyond "measuring water in terms of what we can touch ... to measuring individual experiences." 
New Lancet Planetary Health Study Published
November 10, 2022
The Lancet Lancet Planetary Health published a study with data describing experiences of water insecurity among half the world’s population using the IWISE Scale. See the accompanying policy brief to learn about the surprising findings related to gender and urbanicity.
October
UNC Water and Health Meeting
October 24, 2022
The WISE Scales were well-represented at UNC Water and Health Conference in October; the session on the use of the scales generated enormous enthusiasm across academics and practitioners.
September
The IWISE-4 is Valid, Reliable, and Cross-Country Equivalent
September 12, 2022
August
WISE Scales Featured at World Water Week
August 1, 2022
The WISE Scales were featured in three different panels during Stockholm World Water Week. Videos of these sessions will be posted online soon.
July
Brazilian Research Network on Food and Nutrition Sovereignty and Security Adds HWISE Scale to Survey
July 12, 2022
The Brazilian Research Network on Food and Nutrition Sovereignty and Security added the HWISE Scale to their nationally representative survey of food insecurity and COVID. Face-to-face surveys were done with 12,745 households from November 2021–April 2022. Initial results can be found here.
June
Experiences with Water Insecurity Need Measured in Clinics, Schools, and Prisons
June 20, 2022
Experiences with water insecurity need measured in clinics, schools, and prisons, too! WISE researchers are collaborating with
Helvetas and the
Swiss Water and Sanitation Consortium to review tools for measuring experiences with WASH in institutions, with an eye towards creating a short, reliable, validated, and equivalent tool. Check out their blog post
here.
May
New Research Shows that Food Insecurity and Water Insecurity are Connected
May 9, 2022
Results of a 25-country study led by UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, Northwestern University, and University of South Carolina
show that individuals who are food insecure are much more likely to be water insecure, even after controlling for known confounders. These findings were presented at an IFAD conference in Rome and at the American Society for Nutrition’s annual meeting.
Sera Young Discusses Water Insecurity with Indonesian Delegation
May 1, 2022
Sera Young met with Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, to discuss the WISE Scales when his delegation visited Northwestern University.
April
IPCC Sixth Assessment Report Highlights the Value of Measuring Water Insecurity
April 4, 2022
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report
highlighted the value of experiential measures of water insecurity.
March
WISE Scales Featured at 9th World Water Forum
March 14, 2022
The WISE Scales have been selected by the World Water Council to be featured at the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal. 
HWISE Implemented in Mexican Homes to Capture Data on Water Insecurity
March 7, 2022
The HWISE Scale has been implemented in approximately 12,000 households as part of the Government of Mexico’s 2021 National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT). These data will give unprecedented insights into how water insecurity is associated with a range of health and nutrition outcomes. February
Water Insecurity in Mexico
February 16, 2022
In collaboration with Iberoamericana University, Yale, Acción Ciudadana Frente a la Pobreza, and others, the HWISE Scale was implemented in a nationally representative survey in Mexico in October 2021, and revealed that 32% of households were water insecure (IWISE score of 12 or higher). This story was covered by the leading Mexico City newspaper. The press release, at which the president the president of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) spoke, is found here.