The New Nation - Internet Edition

Md. Abdul Kader Talukder

Health is an emerging field of study researching how changes in the earth's ecosystems are impacting human health. EcoHealth examines changes in the biological, physical, social and economic environments and relates these changes to impacts upon human health. Examples of these changes and their impacts abound. Common examples include increases in asthma rates due to air pollution, PCB contamination of game fish in the Great Lakes of the United States, and habitat fragmentation leading to increasing rates of Lyme disease. Recently vimlent new infectious diseases such as SARS, Ebola virus, Nipah virus, Bird flu and Hantavims have all been found to result from ecosystem change created by humans. These diseases have high death rates and very few effective therapies.

EcoHealth is bringing together physicians, veterinarians, ecologists, economists, social scientists, planners and others to comprehensively study and understand how ecosystem changes are negatively impacting human health. EcoHealth strives to provide innovative, practical solutions to reduce or reverse the negative health impacts of ecosystem change.

Human health and well-being are intimately tied to the health of the ecosystems that sustain life. Yet the potential for improving health by better managing the local environment is an avenue rarely explored in mainstream health programming. Through its Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health (Ecohealth) Program Initiative, IDRC aims to identify the web of economic, social, and Environmental factors that influence human health. Communities can then use this knowledge to better manage ecosystems and improve the health of both people and the ecosystem.

The Ecohealth approach has been tested in three major environments that pose serious threats to the health of both ecosystems and people, especially in developing countries: mining, agriculture, and the urban regions. In each of these sectors, the ecosystem approach to human health has lived up to its potential

In the ecosystem approach to human health, the urban environment is characterized as an ecosystem that is largely influenced by human activity. Its distinctive features are high population density, an established infrastructure, and a high level of social organization. Cities offer very specific challenges for the Ecohealth approach. Researchers studying human health and the environment in an urban setting need to be concerned about poverty, housing, security, human rights, and equity.

The Ecohealth approach has already borne fruit in situations involving each of these problems. In the Mwea region of Kenya, better control of the malaria-carrying mosquito has been achieved by modifying agricultural practices. In Oaxaca, Mexico, deliberations involving scientists, community groups, and government decision-makers have led to the introduction of community actions that have essentially wiped out the region's use of DDT. In the highlands of Yubdo Legabato, Ethiopia, extensive community involvement has enabled the local population to break the vicious cycle of poverty and malnutrition.