Raphael Arku

Some of the major themes that characterize the relationship between the environment and population health in the developing world today include poverty, unsafe water and sanitation, lack of access to clean cooking fuel, and high levels of air pollution in cities. My research interests integrate these themes in the context of urbanization, epidemiological transition, and climate change. Specifically, my research focuses on how these features of the social and physical environment influence environmental exposures and health in resource-poor settings. We collect and analyze primary field data. Also, we use analytical models to combine primary and secondary data to estimate health impacts of exposure to risk factors and their interventions at the population level.

Current Research/Research Groups

Internationally, I am currently leading the Ghana component of a multi-investigator, multi-country project titled “Pathways to Equitable Healthy Cities,” which aims to understand how actions related to water, sanitation, housing, transportation, and urban services affect health and health inequalities in cities in six countries.  

Locally in the U.S., with support from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health JPB Environmental Health Fellowship Program, I am partnering with colleagues from the Baystate Health and Baystate Medical Center to understand how factors in the living environment may influence chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation and readmissions among communities in Western Massachusetts that are differentially affected by high rates of COPD readmissions.