What's New at the Environmental Health Project - E-newsletter
-------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Colleagues:
Welcome to the fourth issue of "What's New at EHP," the E-newsletter
of the Environmental Health Project.
The E-newsletter is intended to keep EHP staff, partners, clients and
colleagues informed of EHP happenings and activities, new EHP
publications and reports, and upcoming meetings and conferences
related to environmental health. Issues of What's New can also be
accessed on our web site at http://www.ehproject.org
Questions and comments about our project or this E-newsletter are
Very welcome. To subscribe, please send an email to:
mailto:info@ehproject.org
We hope you enjoy our newsletter. Please feel free to distribute the
newsletter to your staff and contacts.
May Post Dan Campbell David Elwell Adam Bosak The EHP Information
Center
IN THIS ISSUE:
-Expanded technical assistance program for malaria control in
Mozambique
-Integrated survey instrument for linking health, population, and the
Environment in madagascar
-Nepal: workshop on community-based strategy for prevention and
Control of malaria and kala-azar
-Dominican republic: technical assistance to the Hato mayor pilot
Project
-International consultation on indoor air pollution-update
-Providing support to the system-wide initiative on malaria and
Agriculture conference in Nairobi, Kenya
-Expanded technical assistance program for malaria control in
Mozambique
In March 2001, EHP provided input to USAID/Mozambique in the
development of an expanded program of technical assistance for
Mozambique's National Malaria Control Program (NMCP). EHP's input
builds on lessons learned over the past two years, during which EHP
helped national and local authorities improve malaria surveillance in
Maputo and develop detailed maps of the distribution of malaria cases
and risk ("stratification") in the capital city. Under the expanded
program, USAID/Mozambique will provide technical and operational
support for two of NMCP's important initiatives: improving malaria
surveillance (through establishing five sentinel surveillance sites)
and increasing the effectiveness of malaria vector management
(including indoor residual spraying and larval controls). Continued
assistance to local authorities in Maputo will also be a component of
the expanded program. Work under the new program is anticipated to
begin in September 2001.
For information on the activity, please contact: Gene Brantly
(mailto:brantlyep@ehproject.org)
-Integrated survey instrument for linking health, population, and the
Environment in Madagascar
EHP is supporting a four-year program in biologically diverse systems
in Madagascar, linking and integrating activities among projects in
health, population, and environment (H-P-E).
The design of the integrated H-P-E household survey instrument for
collecting baseline data in intervention and control communities has
been completed. The baseline survey (and follow-up surveys) aims to
evaluate the effectiveness of the multisectoral integrated approach.
The central hypothesis is that by integrating the environment
(natural resource management activities) with health and population
activities, programs will be more effective and sustainable.
The household survey covers three regions, and fieldwork is under way
through April. Funding for the survey was provided by EHP and Taya
Meva (Summit Foundation grant). The survey is implemented by
Direction de la D,mographie et des Statistiques Sociales/Institut
National de la Statistique, and results will be available by the end
of May 2001.
For more information, contact Eckhard Kleinau
(mailto:kleinauef@ehproject.org)
-Nepal: workshop on community-based strategy for prevention and
Control of malaria and kala-azar
EHP/Nepal, with support from USAID/Nepal, organized a five- day
workshop that included personnel from the Ministry of Health;
representatives from nongovernmental organizations, USAID/G/PHN, and
EHP/Washington; and other partners to discuss and select a community-
based intervention strategy for the prevention and control of
infectious diseases-in particular, kala-azar (leishmaniasis) and
malaria. Interventions will be pilot-tested in two districts in Nepal
in collaboration with district-level Ministry of Health staff and
village development committees. This is the first initiative of its
kind to be designed for improved management and control of infectious
diseases through a primarily community-based approach.
For more information on the activity, please contact Lisa Nichols
(mailto:nicholsls@ehproject.org)
-Dominican republic: technical assistance to the Hato mayor pilot
Project
USAID/Dominican Republic and the National Water Supply and Sewerage
Institute (INAPA) are working together and co financing a pilot
project to decentralize rural water supply and sanitation services in
the Hato Mayor province. The pilot project will develop and test
strategies to implement a decentralization strategy focusing on
community participation in the construction of rural water supply and
sanitation systems through the application of the Total Community
Participation (TCP) model. Based on lessons learned, the pilot
strategy will be scaled up to the national level.
The rural water supply implementation unit (Acuenductos Rurales [AR])
of INAPA will serve as a normative body working in collaboration with
nongovernmental organizations and other contracted entities. USAID,
through EHP, will assist INAPA in developing the capacity within AR
to carry out its new role as the normative body to implement INAPA's
strategy of decentralization of rural water supply and sanitation
systems nationwide.
For information on the activity, please contact Eddy Perez
(mailto:perezea@ehproject.org)
-International Consultation On Indoor Air Pollution-Update
Last year, EHP served as the secretariat for the Indoor Air Pollution
Conference, which was sponsored by USAID and the World Health
Organization. In attendance were approximately 50 international
participants, including representatives from donor agencies and
development organizations, as well as academics and researchers.
The conference had four major objectives:
To promote a dialogue on health impacts of indoor air pollution and
household energy use, interventions to reduce exposure, and policies
and strategies that contribute to sustainable economic and social de-
velopment:
To identify priority research and policy initiatives for effective
interventions.
To recommend an agenda for action.
To identify the next steps needed to introduce and coordinate the
action agenda.
Five background papers were presented at the conference. Two have
been published as journal articles. Links to the two papers are now
available via the EHP Web site at:
http://www.ehproject.org/Library/WebliographyEH.htm
-Providing support to the system-wide initiative on malaria and
Agriculture conference in Nairobi, Kenya
Some agriculture practices and systems (e.g., crop selection and
design of irrigation systems) may contribute significantly to malaria
transmission. Last year, EHP supported a discussion on linkages
between malaria and agriculture at the annual meeting of the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
This session was organized in collaboration with the USAID Office of
Agriculture, Food Security, and Economic Development AFSED and the
Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Following
the meeting, the CGIAR established the System-wide Initiative on
Malaria and Agriculture (SIMA) to improve understanding of the
linkages between malaria and agriculture.
In May 2001, EHP cosponsored the first conference for SIMA in
Nairobi, Kenya. Participants included representatives from six
countries in East and Southern Africa, as well as representatives
from several CGIAR centers, AFSED, and IDRC. Participants discussed
the objectives, scope, and organization of SIMA and developed a clear
set of themes that will be used to guide and define specific research
projects.
One of EHP's objectives is to demonstrate the effectiveness of
integrated vector management (IVM) programs. Changing agriculture
practices and systems in ways that reduce malaria transmission could
be an important part of IVM. EHP may provide financial support for
one or more SIMA research projects that are within the scope of IVM.
SIMA is also planning other conferences in West and Central Africa,
Latin America, and Asia.
For more information, please contact
Gene Brantly
mailto:brantlyep@ehproject.org
--
Send mail for the `AFRO-NETS' conference to `<afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org>'.
Mail administrative requests to `<majordomo@usa.healthnet.org>'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `<owner-afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org>'.