Contraception an important part of climate control

September 21, 2009 · 0 comments

A summary of:

  • Sexual and reproductive health and climate change; The Lancet, Volume 374, Issue 9694, Page 949, 19 September 2009 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61643-3
  • Managing the health effects of climate change; The Lancet, Volume 373, Issue 9676, Pages 1693 – 1733, 16 May 2009 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60935-1

According to the United Nations 2006 revision of the world population prospects, the world population is likely to increase from the current 6·7 billion to 9·2 billion in 2050. Most of this increase will be in less developed regions of the world while the population in developed countries is expected to remain nearly unchanged.

Population growth is linked to changes in food and water supply and housing. Rapid increases in population growth is most likely to have negative effects – increasing food and water scarcity, environmental degradation, and human displacement.

There are more than 200 million women throughout the world who want, but lack access to modern contraceptives. This lack of contraceptive availability results in an estimated 76 million unintended pregnancies each year. This increase puts strain on regional environmental resources (water, food, housing) with increased disease if those resources aren’t sufficient.

Drought and desertification influencing population migration. Both have a tendency to affect migration into cities, increasing urbanization. This in turn stresses the socioeconomic conditions already exacerbated by high population growth. Urban slums often have poor drainage facilities in developing countries. This can increase health problems due to poor sanitation.

The Lancet editorial discusses the need for better contraception available to women around the world. “It is disappointing to see that there are still tensions between the population and some of the sexual and reproductive health and rights community.”

The editorial points out a case study from Ethiopia that trained people in sustainable land management practices, while increasing availability of family planning. The area saw an immediate improvement to the environment with better agricultural practices, which in the long term will be sustained and not eroded by a rapidly increasing population.

Thomas Wire, a postgraduate student at the London School of Economics, makes an economic case, Fewer Emitters, Lower Emissions, Less Cost, in discussing family planning and the environment. He points out that family planning is five times cheaper than conventional green technologies to combat climate change.

Wire calculated that if present trends continue, the planet is on track to have 338 billion “people-years” lived between 2020 and 2050. But if contraception were available to every woman who wanted it then enough pregnancies would be averted that the number of people-years would fall to 326 billion.

The reduction of 12 billion people-years would save 34 gigatons of carbon dioxide that would otherwise cost at least $220 billion to produce. In other words, each $7 invested in contraception would buy more than 1 ton of carbon dioxide emissions.

Contraception is important to population control which is important to the health of our planet and global warming. It’s all linked.

Source – http://www.emaxhealth.com/1024/48/33659/contraception-important-part-climate-control.html

Nigeria – 50 Million Citizens Live in Slums

September 21, 2009 · 1 comment

Abuja — Programme Officer of the United Nations Habitat Programme Support Office (HAPSO), Barnabas Atiyaye, has said 50 million out of the 140 million Nigerians live in slums across the country.

Atiyaye stated this at a media chat organised by Women Environmental Programme on climate change and housing for the poor in the context of Nigeria in Abuja.

He said the shelter conditions of the poor are deteriorating, as 70 per cent of the urban dwellers live in slums.

He pointed out that housing represents the most basic of human needs and has a profound impact on the health, welfare and productivity of individuals, adding that globally, one billion people still lack adequate shelter and basic services.

He noted with dismay that the Nigerian government does not have data on the urban poor, thus making it difficult to plan for them.

To this end, he called on the government to prepare and adopt land use plans for all human settlements, suggesting that local government councils should administer land matters to make land more accessible to the poor.

Speaking in the same vein, former Vice Chancellor of Benue State University, David Ker, said “lack of housing options for the poor, the vagaries of climate change and its impact on the vulnerable, attendant urbanisation, present daunting challenges to us a people and a nation.”

He noted that climate change and urban poverty are inextricably linked, adding that the living conditions of low-income slum settlements are deplorable and deleterious to health and wellbeing of residents.

Source – http://allafrica.com/stories/200909180792.html

Chikungunya to spread worldwide

September 21, 2009 · 0 comments

21st September 2009

An African mosquito-borne illness is set to infect people in the United States and Europe, the same way West Nile virus did a decade ago.

Though the virus left Africa in 2005, cases of chikungunya virus have only recently begun to appear in France and Italy.

Prior to that, it had spread to islands in the Indian ocean and the French island of Reunion, where outbreaks led to many fatalities.

James Diaz of the Louisiana University Health Sciences Centre said that he and his colleagues are very worried.

He said that an outbreak of chikungunya is unlike outbreaks of West Nile virus, in which most infected people are asymptomatic.

He said that the disease can be fatal, and that everyone infected will have symptoms of the serious disease, for which there is no vaccine.

Chikungunya causes fever, fatigue, rash, muscle pain, vomiting, and headache, as well as arthritic symptoms which can last months after the initial infection.

Though medical researchers first discovered the disease in Tanzania in 1952, it became a global threat with the spread of the Asian tiger mosquito, which can carry the disease, to all of the continents of the world.

The name chikungunya derives from the Makonde language, spoken in northern Mozambique and southeastern Tanzania, and means “that which bends up.”

The Asian tiger mosquito species is classified as one of the world’s 100 worst invasive species.

Though it is native to the Southeast Asian tropics, it has adapted to tolerate snow and freezing, which allows it to live year-round in temperate climates.

The spread of the disease worries local health officials in Indian Ocean islands such as Mauritius, Seychelles, and Reuinion, which are frequented by tourists.

Diaz said that the disease is hyper-endemic in the islands of the Indian Ocean, and that travel by air will eventually import the infected mosquitoes and humans no matter what people do.

Cities with large slums and poor water systems, such as Mumbai and Mexico City, will be large breeding grounds for the disease.

The Asian tiger mosquito first arrived in Europe roughly 30 years ago, in a shipment of Chinese goods bound for Albania.

The pest was probably also introduced a second time to Europe in the early 1990s, in shipments of used tyres brought from the US to Italy.

Since then, the mosquito has been found in places as far flung as the northern Alps of Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Source – http://www.hc2d.co.uk/content.php?contentId=12707

Ethiopia – new urban health initiative

September 16, 2009 · 0 comments

Bureau to implement urban health package, 16 September 2009

Harar, September 16 (WIC) – The Harari State Health Bureau said it has finalized preparations to implement urban health package this budget year so as to improve the health service of residents of Harar town.

Bureau Health Care Work Process Health Development Communication Officer, Raniya Mohammed, told WIC the package will be realized in six area administrations of the town beginning this month.

She said the implementation of the health package is aimed at providing fair and efficient health services for residents of the town. She said 62 nurses recruited from health extension workers are receiving a three -month training for the success of the program.

According to Raniya, health extension workers in the town are providing first aid, environmental sanitation and personal hygiene, family health services to inhabitants of the town.

Moreover, the extension workers are offering vaccination, reproductive health, family planning and other related health service to the residents, she noted.

Source – WaltaINFO

Urban Health Bulletin – July/August 2009

September 15, 2009 · 0 comments

The latest issue of the Urban Health Bulletin is now on the Environmental Health at USAID website at: http://www.ehproject.org/PDF/ehkm/urban_health-jul_aug09.pdf (pdf)

This issue contains citations and abstracts of 25 peer-review studies selected by Anthony Kolb, USAID’s Urban Health Advisor.

WSP – Analysis of Ecological Sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa

September 14, 2009 · 0 comments

WSP Water and Sanitation Program (WSP). 2009. Study for Financial and Economic Analysis of Ecological Sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa. (pdf, 5MB)

This study on financial and economic analysis of ecological sanitation (ecosan) in Sub-Saharan Africa was financed by the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP). It focused on a comparison of sanitation technologies suitable for urban settlements.

The aim of the study was to compare ecosan with conventional sanitation systems in terms of financial and economic costs and benefits, in order to assist decision-makers and sponsors of development programs to make informed decisions about relative merits of different types of sanitation. To achieve this, an analytical framework and a computer model were developed to assess and compare different technologies in terms of financial and economic Net Present Value (NPV).

The economic benefits derived from improved sanitation include health and environmental benefits, as well as those which are associated to excreta reuse. The latter is modeled by taking into account the volume of excreta, the mass of nutrients produced, and the monetary value of increased crop yields. Although there are a wide range of ecosan technologies, the study focused on those which have been implemented at sufficient scales, to enable a more robust analysis based, on a more extensive data set possible.

USAID/Yemen – Unhealthy animal markets threaten human and animal health

September 14, 2009 · 0 comments

Although livestock is a primary source of income to many farmers in Yemen, accounting for over 50 percent of their income, the absence of healthy animal markets is a serious threat to this sector, according to a recent report by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Yemen.

The report, which focused on improving livestock production and marketing in Yemen, said that the domestic livestock market and animal husbandry -raising cattle for milk and meat- were in decline, causing serious poverty among small producers in Yemen.

Yemen’s animal markets are disorganized and places of parasites infections, it said.

“The informal markets such as Noqum animal market in the Sana’a governorate and the Marawia and Bajil markets in Hodeida governorate, are extremely chaotic and a breeding ground for disease and parasite infestation,” said the report.

The report also criticized the infrastructure of these markets, which reportedly lacked essential services.

“There are no veterinarian services or other agricultural input services available at the market,” pointed out the report.

For instance, the report gave an example on how the absence of these services highly affects the lives of animals and livelihoods of those who rear them.

“If there are sick livestock that are in need of veterinary services, the producer has to call and make arrangements for treatment,” said the report. “The sick animals are held in the same area as the healthy animals.”

Moreover, the report added that the location of current animal markets in Yemen are not appropriate and could be a factor in diseases spreading among animals and humans.

“All of these markets are located in the center of the town population, causing a high probability of cross-contamination between human and animals,” explained the report.

Quarantine ‘in disrepair’

The report described quarantine process at entry ports for imported animals from the Horn of Africa and Ethiopia entered Yemen as in complete disrepair.

“The quarantine process in Yemen is in complete disrepair, and there is a complete lack of financial and technical support at the quarantine facilities,” said the report.

Furthermore, the report said that imported animals are not being tested. Those in charge of the quarantine merely observe the animal for two days and then release it to Yemeni markets.

“There is no testing of livestock disease, with animals only observed for two days before being released into the general Yemen animal market,” noted the report.

The report went on to say that no regulations are imposed for quarantine to check if animals are sick upon entry to Yemen.

“Quarantine for sick animals is up to the individual traders, and they usually are held in the same area as the healthy animals,” said the report.

Domestic livestock malnourished

The report classified livestock in Yemen into two categories. The first category is domestic livestock, which is small in weight and size.

The second is imported livestock of cattle and sheep, bigger than in weight and size than domestic livestock.

The report attributed reasons of the small size and weight of domestic livestock to malnutrition, parasite infestation, and poor genetic vigor.

The report also criticized the behavior of some Yemeni farmers who sell young cattle and sheep.

“The sale of under-finished (term used to describe animals who have obtained full weight) and immature, poor-health domestic stock is prevalent in these informal markets throughout Yemen,” concluded the report.

The report found that domestic livestock is in sharp decline whereas imported livestock is on the increase due to the local demand.

“There is a severe decline in the domestic animal market in Yemen compared to the overall market demand in Yemen,” it said.

Imported livestock of the rise

The report also said that the business of importing livestock is in progress.

“In the present livestock market, imported livestock are far more profitable for the traders than buying and selling in the domestic market,” the report said.

“During the ten-year period 1995 to 2005, there was a 643 percent increase in the number of livestock imported into Yemen.”

The report examined the problem of domestic livestock declining and came to the conclusion that many factors led to this situation.

“A lack of forage and feed grains that force producers to sell immature animals in the marketplace, diseases such as PPR (Peste de Petit Ruminants), Sheep and Goat Pox, Foot and Mouth Disease, Brucellosis, and contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP), that are widespread in livestock contributed to the decline of domestic livestock production in Yemen,” explained the report.

The report also indicated that drought has a direct effect to the declining of domestic livestock in Yemen that usually force producers to sell their livestock.

“High mortality rates in the domestic livestock sector, which leaves producers with a lack of motivation to adopt livestock also is a big factor in the declining of animals husbandry,” indicated the report.

The report suggested a number of solutions for the Yemeni Ministry of Agriculture to improve animal markets to develop the livestock industry in Yemen, and motivate producers to give priority to their livestock.

Recommendations

The report recommended increasing supply and demand, and ultimately creating a sustainable and profitable market, through improved integration between producers and traders working simultaneously at the farm and industry level.

The capacity of livestock producers should be strengthened to increase production through sound and basic animal husbandry practices.

It recommended to develop quality livestock that are disease-free, produce good value for the Yemeni consumer, and create demand for the regional export market.

Veterinarian service should be improved to include providing vaccinations, medical supplies, artificial insemination, and distribution of feed supplements and mineral blocks.

The report suggested that all these veterinarian services work through something it called a “livestock sale barn,” a unit in which both producer and trader work together.

It recommended support to training programs for health and nutrition, including targeted information distribution on proper animal husbandry practices to producers and traders.

Moreover, said the report, official Yemeni agencies need to be given the authority to quarantine imported and domestic animals that carry disease in upgraded centers, notably with confinement pens and laboratory equipment.

Finally, the Yemeni government should provide access to credit to all farmers, extremely critical for the sustainable success of the USAID’s livestock sale barn program.

Source – http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1294&p=health&a=1

South Africa's backyard dwellings as a by-product of formal housing policies

September 14, 2009 · 0 comments

Charlotte Lemanski – Augmented informality: South Africa’s backyard dwellings as a by-product of formal housing policies.

IN: Habitat International, Volume 33, Issue 4, October 2009, Pages 472-484,

Insufficient and inadequate housing for the urban poor has a long history in South Africa, as in other African cities. Nearly one-fifth of urban households in South Africa reside in an informal dwelling. While most live in informal settlements, significant proportions have erected informal structures (essentially `shacks’) in the backyard of another property, a distinctly South African phenomenon. Backyard dwellings have historically been overlooked by housing policies that focus on upgrading and/or eradicating informal settlements. Previously, backyard dwellers were perceived as marginalised, living in appalling conditions and exploited by cavalier landlords. However, the post-apartheid provision of state-funded housing for the poor has altered the nature of backyard housing, creating a new class of cash-poor homeowners who are dependent on income from backyard dwellers’ rent, thus ensuring a more equitable power pendulum between landlord and tenant. This paper uses research conducted in a low-income state-subsidised housing settlement in Cape Town to explore the new dimensions of informal backyard housing, both for landlords and tenants, as a consequence of South Africa’s formal housing policies.

IIED – Water service provision for the peri-urban poor in post-conflict Angola

September 14, 2009 · 0 comments

Cain, A. and M. Mulenga (2009) Water service provision for the peri-urban poor in post-conflict Angola. (pdf, 851KB)

Human Settlements Working Paper Series Water 8, IIED, London.

One of the important challenges of post-war reconstruction is to provide more and better quality basic services, such as water. Previous attempts at upgrading main supply systems to accommodate peri-urban areas have been overwhelmed by the explosive demographic growth of Angola’s major cities brought about by many years of civil war. This paper documents strategies developed by the informal private sector and local communities themselves to meet the demand for water services that the Angolan Government has been unable to provide. The paper demonstrates that local communities’ own engagement in the management of water distribution and their assumption of the responsibility for maintenance and the payment of service fees is a sustainable and affordable model. The paper also points out that building on the successes of existing locally driven initiatives, can bring national and international water targets closer to realisation and that local innovations not only improve water provision, but do so in a manner that involves and responds to the urban poor more than conventional water projects do.

IIED – The food price crisis and urban food (in)security

September 14, 2009 · 0 comments

Cohen, M. and J.L Garrett (2009). The food price crisis and urban food (in)security. (pdf, 436KB)

Urbanization and emerging population issues working paper series No.2, IIED, London.

Rapid increases in food prices in 2007 and the first half of 2008 attracted high-level policy attention. During the course of 2008, the United Nations organized an inter-agency High-Level Taskforce on the Global Food Security Crisis and issued a Comprehensive Framework for Action. Over 40 heads of state and government attended a High-Level Conference on World Food Security, sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and focused mainly on how to address the price increases. Donors pledged more than US $12 billion to assist low-income, food-importing countries in coping with the effects of soaring prices.

The speeches, declarations, plans, and pledges all duly noted the vulnerability of poor urban dwellers, who rely primarily on market purchases for their food, and for whom food purchases account for the bulk of expenditures. Yet most policy prescriptions focused on addressing constraints to rural-based food production. In addition to strengthening of social protection schemes, the declarations called for increased investment in smallholder agriculture, attention to macroeconomic and trade measures, and the development or rebuilding of national and regional food stocks. While action in these last three areas potentially contributes in the longer term to greater urban food security, policymakers and analysts nevertheless paid less attention to efforts that would have a direct impact on preventing urban hunger.

In this paper, we argue that the disproportionate attention that policy solutions to the food price crisis give to rural dwellers is likely misplaced. Although in developing countries rural poverty is often deeper and more widespread than urban poverty, rural dwellers are often net producers of food, frequently of the very staples whose prices are rising. We outline the pathways of impact of food price rises on urban dwellers; highlight the evidence so far on how those impacts have played out during this crisis; and describe current policy responses and suggest how to improve them to better protect the urban poor in the short- and longer-term.

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