Abstract: The purpose of this project is to determine the action to be taken in the areas of waste water and sewage treatment, the role of the various participants, and their implementation conditions to improve human health in a large city in the moist tropical zone. To achieve this objective, we chose to focus our work on a watershed. The Mingoa watershed was chosen because it represents virtually the entire range of habitat found in the city of Yaoundé. In this ecosystem, the use of deep-pit latrines, which are in direct contact with the water table, is a standard treatment practice. At the same time, fewer than 40% of the population has access to drinking water. Wells and springs are systematically used for many purposes, and the water from these structures is of very poor quality.In addition, citizens constantly complain of diarrhea but fail to establish any link to their environment. In this area, action is being taken to improve neighbourhood sanitation. How would better sanitation affect health? Could agriculture and fishing in shallow water have a negative impact on the health of the growers and consumers of these products? It is the search for answers to these questions that drives this research. We chose to focus on children under 5 because they are more vulnerable.

Development of strategies to reduce the health risks for human populations due to small dams in West Africa: the case of the Yatenga dam in Burkina Faso

Abstract:This purpose of this research project is to examine the consequences of the deterioration of the Yatenga dam ecosystem on human health that we identified during the preliminary study, “Analysis of mechanisms to reduce the risks caused by the Yatenga dam to the health of the ecosystem and of riverside and settler populations”, which took place from April to July 2001, with IDRC funding. The study enabled us to mark out, map and characterize the natural, human and socioeconomic features of the study area; to identify the most urgent environmental factors for human health, without assessing them; and to identify the illnesses affecting the most vulnerable social strata in the study area. Finally, we linked productive activities to the health of riverside populations.The results led us to determine that developing mechanisms to reduce the risks to the health of the ecosystem and of human populations due to the Yatenga dam requires better awareness of the links between environmental deterioration and the impact on human health. This knowledge must go beyond the framework of a single finding, and produce a comprehensive model with which to analyse and resolve the risks to human health caused by small dams.The overall objective of this study is to help reduce health risks for humans living or working in the Yatenga dam ecosystem, and to ensure sustainability through an ecosystem approach to health.The action-research strategy, using an iterative process, which we had already adopted for the preliminary study, is the most appropriate for the ecosystem approach to human health.This research project is based on a trans-disciplinary and multi-institutional approach. The program mobilizes a number of disciplines and complementary skills, in an approach that must remain global, and demands a unified framework of risk analysis and management, incorporating requirements for transparency and communication in relations with the people affected.The project includes two major stages, a risk assessment stage and a risk management stage, and involves a series of steps designed to develop and implement sanitation strategies to reduce the risk caused by small impoundments of water.The results should lessen the deterioration of the ecosystem and reduce the human health risks attributable to the Yatenga dam. These results could be replicated for developments in similar socioecological conditions elsewhere in West Africa.

Applying the Eco-health Approach to the Management of Gastro-intestinal Tract Infections in Nigeria

Abstract: Available data indicates that Gastro-Intestinal Tract Infection (GIT) is one of the major causes of high morbidity and infant mortality in Nigeria.  It accounts for 38 and 39% of mortality and morbidity respectively. Poor sanitation is especially to blame for the spread of GIT infections in Nigeria, which occur annually in urban centers where proper sanitation facilities are beyond the reach of more than 50% of the population.

The goal of the study is to apply the ecohealth approach in achieving a better understanding, interpretation and evaluation of the interacting issues of health and environment that create the high incidence of gastro-intestinal tract infections in a Nigerian ecosystem.  This is with a view to come up, in a participatory way, with appropriate short-, medium- and long-term solutions as well as determine actionable roles for different partners in addressing the health problems and their environmental (ecosystem) determinants.

In terms of methodology, focus will be on the Oniyanrin Eco-System, located in Ibadan, presenting typical lower- and middle-income neighborhoods in Nigerian urban centers.  The project will adapt the DPSEEA framework in generating information, whereby the driving force, the pressures, the states of the ecosystem, the exposure factors and the effects of the exposure are systematically isolated and analyzed as part of the process of arriving at the appropriate actions for the management of gastro-intestinal tract infections in Nigeria.

The activities will include community sensitization, community mapping, collection of primary and secondary data, using the following instruments: household surveys, observation and unstructured interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and scientific/laboratory analysis of nutrition status, water, soil and air quality.  Some community interventions will also be designed, implemented and tested, focusing on one specific health issue  GIT infections. Participatory, multidisciplinary and, most importantly, transdisciplinary approaches will be adopted in the execution of the project.

The European Union and the Government of Catalonia Support Ecohealth Activity in Cameroon 2007-04-05
Improving the accessibility and quality of drinking water and sanitation services in low-income neighbourhoods of Yaoundé, Cameroon.