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Background: Water security is necessary for good health, nutrition, and wellbeing, but experiences with water have not typically been measured. Given that measurement of experiences with food access, use, acceptability, and reliability (stability) has greatly expanded our ability to promote food security, there is an urgent need to similarly improve the measurement of water security. The Water InSecurity Experiences (WISE) Scales show promise in doing so because they capture user-side experiences with water in a more holistic and precise way than traditional supply- side indicators. Early use of the WISE Scales in Latin American & the Caribbean (LAC) has revealed great promise, although representative data are lacking for most of the region. Concurrent measurement of experiential food and water insecurity has the potential to inform the development of better-targeted interventions that can advance human and planetary health. Main text: On April 20–21, 2023, policymakers, community organizers, and researchers convened at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City to discuss lessons learned from using experiential measures of food and water insecurity in LAC. At the meeting's close, organizers read a Declaration that incorporated key meeting messages. The Declaration recognizes the magnitude and severity of the water crisis in the region as well as globally. It acknowledges that traditional measurement tools do not capture many salient water access, use, and reliability challenges. It recognizes that the WISE Scales have the potential to assess the magnitude of water insecurity more comprehensively and accurately at community, state, and national levels, as well as its (inequitable) relationship with poverty, poor health. As such, WISE data can play an important role in ensuring more accountability and strengthening water systems governance through improved public policies and programs. Declaration signatories express their willingness to promote the widespread use of the WISE Scales to understand the prevalence of water insecurity, guide investment decisions, measure the impacts of interventions and natural shocks, and improve public health. Conclusions: Fifty-three attendees endorsed the Declaration – available in English, Spanish and Portuguese— as an important step to making progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6, "Clean Water and Sanitation for All", and towards the realization of the human right to water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prenatal exposure to dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p´ -DDE) may interfere with fetal development; however, studies evaluating anthropometry and gestational age at birth show inconsistent results. Typically, p,p´ -DDE exposure has been measured during the third trimester and missed the key early pregnancy period. We evaluated the association between p,p´ -DDE exposure before week 18 of pregnancy and anthropometry at birth, as well as gestational length, in 170 mother–child pairs from a cohort study in a flower-growing mexican region. Maternal serum p,p´ -DDE concentrations were determined by gas chromatography. The associations between p,p´ -DDE and z-scores of birth weight, birth length, and gestational age were evaluated by linear multiple regression models. Logistic regression models were used for low birth weight and small size for gestational age. Effect modification by child's sex was explored. The average gestational age at the blood sample extraction was 10.6 weeks. p,p' -DDE was detected in 64.7% of mothers, at a geometric mean of 0.24 ng/mL. Prenatal p,p´ -DDE exposure was not associated with the birth outcomes in the whole sample. However, a high p,p´ -DDE exposure was marginally associated with greater small for gestational age risk in male newborns (OR≥0.076ng/mL vs <0.076 ng/mL = 3.09, 95% CI: 0.61; 15.58), but not in female (p for interaction = 0.08). Even though, we found no reductions in anthropometric measurements or gestational length associated with early prenatal p,p´ -DDE exposure, the potential effect modification by infant's sex in terms of small for the gestational age risk deserves future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]