AFRO-NETS> What's New at the Environmental Health Project?

[Dan Campbell <CampbellDB@ehproject.org>]

What's New at the Environmental Health Project?
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E-newsletter #6, September 25, 2001

Dear colleagues:

Welcome to the sixth 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 up-
coming meetings and conferences related to environmental health. This 
issue as well as previous 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 e-mail: 
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, Abdulzatar Kuku
The EHP Information Center

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IN THIS ISSUE: 
* Lessons learned from community management of environmental health
  in Benin 
* Sustainable sanitation services in small towns in LAC 
* Improved hygiene in Kinshasa markets, Democratic Republic of Congo 
* Urban environmental health and behavior change in Peru 
* Mini-portal on environmental health


LESSONS LEARNED FROM COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IN 
BENIN

Community Management of Environmental Health, also known as GESCOME 
II (Gestion Communautaire de la Sante Environnementale), is a multi-
year activity implemented by EHP in Benin. GESCOME II is a scale-up 
of GESCOME I-a pilot community-based activity to prevent diarrheal 
disease in children under 5. GESCOME I was operational from 1997 to 
1999. GESCOME II began operations in September 1999 and will be com-
pleted at the end of September 2001.

GESCOME II has continued the focus on diarrheal disease prevention 
initiated by GESCOME I, while expanding to include gender awareness, 
community and social mobilization, participatory information, educa-
tion and communication, and reinforcing ties between municipal au-
thorities and the community related to diarrheal disease transmission 
and prevention.

An activity to document lessons learned from the design, implementa-
tion, and accomplishments of GESCOME II and GESCOME I is scheduled to 
begin in late October. The document, titled "Governance, Community 
Mobilization, and Environmental Health Outcomes-Lessons Learned in 
Benin," will be prepared by a combination of international and Be-
ninese experts. The documentation activity is tentatively scheduled 
to be completed by early December.

For information on the lessons-learned documentation activity, please 
contact Eckhard Kleinau (mailto:kleinauef@ehproject.org)


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SUSTAINABLE SANITATION SERVICES IN SMALL TOWNS IN LATIN AMERICA AND 
THE CARIBBEAN

A number of USAID missions in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) 
have been supporting municipalities in the area of water supply and 
sanitation (WS&S)-many through municipal strengthening and environ-
ment programs. In general, USAID efforts have focused more on drink-
ing water supply than on sanitation. 

EHP is implementing an activity focused on sanitation improvement in 
small towns. Small towns in LAC typically have populations between 
5,000 and 30,000. Small towns typically are not in a position techni-
cally, financially, or institutionally to provide sanitation services 
effectively. The EHP activity examines these issues and proposes a 
strategy for sustainable sanitation services in small towns.

Two primary outcomes are envisioned from the activity: (1) a strate-
gic paper that provides an overview of the issues involved in improv-
ing sanitation in small towns and that identifies a strategy that can 
be used in the planning of sustainable sanitation services and (2) a 
step-by-step methodology that a local consultant team can use to de-
velop the sanitation plan. Ultimately, the goal is to implement a 
sanitation plan that is financially sustainable, that protects the 
environment, that maximizes health benefits, and that is equitable.

EHP will field-test the methodology in the fall of 2001 in Ecuador 
and in two countries to be identified in Central America and the Car-
ibbean. Documents will be finalized after the field tests are com-
pleted.

For information on the activity, please contact Fred Rosensweig 
(mailto:rosensweigfj@ehproject.org).


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IMPROVED HYGIENE IN KINSHASA MARKETS, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

The USAID Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo (USAID/DRCongo) 
has been implementing the Urban Environmental Health Strategy. Devel-
oped by the EHP in collaboration with the Regional Urban Development 
Office (RUDO/Africa), the strategy focuses on diarrheal disease pre-
vention.

Short-term strategy interventions include the implementation of three 
urban environmental health pilot projects. One pilot project related 
to market sanitation was recently completed by Action Against Hunger 
(Action Contre la Faim ACF -USA) and local authorities, with techni-
cal assistance from EHP and the University of Kinshasa School of Pub-
lic Health. The objective of the pilot project was to improve sani-
tary conditions in public markets in Kinshasa. 

Under the pilot project, new "sanitation units" have been constructed 
in seven Kinshasa markets. These units include toilets, showers, wa-
ter points for washing hands, water storage tanks, septic tanks, and 
the ability to collect rainwater for use in the units. In addition, 
11 drinking water points have been established in locations where wa-
ter was not previously available to the market vendors, restaura-
teurs, and customers. These new facilities are under the management 
of nongovernmental organizations and private businesses, and income 
generated through operation and use of the sanitation facilities will 
be used to ensure their sustainability and maintenance. Furthermore, 
hygiene education teams have been trained to provide education to the 
market community on food and on individual, domestic, and market hy-
giene. These trained specialists can be seen daily in the markets, 
speaking with vendors, customers, and restaurant owners and workers.

For information on the activity, please contact Chris McGahey 
(mailto:mcgahey@ehproject.org).


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URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND BEHAVIOR CHANGE IN PERU

USAID/Peru's Urban Environmental Health and Behavior Change activity 
aims to reduce environmental health risks associated with exposure to 
locally generated contaminants and pathogens in periurban residential 
neighborhoods and communities. The activity's purpose will be 
achieved through four interventions: policy improvement assistance; 
site-based pilot projects to demonstrate innovative approaches in en-
vironmental health; training and local institutional strengthening; 
and development of community- based environmental health risk moni-
toring capacity.

USAID/Peru's primary counterpart for the activity is DIGESA, the En-
vironmental Health Division of the Ministry of Health. During the 
past year, EHP worked with DIGESA in project planning and in a vari-
ety of activities related to childhood lead poisoning. Under the Ur-
ban Environmental Health and Behavior Change activity, EHP will pro-
vide a wide range of technical assistance and procurement support to 
DIGESA and to implementing private voluntary organizations (PVOs) and 
local authorities. Within this context, EHP's first role has been the 
design and delivery of a start-up workshop that seeks to ensure that 
all actors and stakeholders involved have a clear understanding of 
the activity and their respective roles.

The start-up workshop was held in Lima, Peru, the week of September 
10. The workshop was attended by a USAID/Washington representative as 
well as a three- member EHP team, which included the EHP Director. 
Approximately 40 participants attended the workshop, including key 
staff from the implementing partners- DIGESA, USAID/Peru, CARE-and 
representatives from key stakeholders, such as the World Bank Water 
and Sanitation Program (WSP) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention (USCDC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the 
Pan American Health Organization, SEDAPAL (the national water supply 
and sanitation agency), and CONAM (the national environmental protec-
tion agency). 

For information on the Peru activity and the workshop, please contact 
Eddy Perez (mailto:perezea@ehproject.org).


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MINI-PORTAL ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

A mini-portal on environmental health has been established on the In-
formation Services page to provide access to more environmental 
health information resources. 

In addition to the usual categories on our Information Services page, 
new categories of information resources include Bibliographic Data-
bases, Development News Sources, Commercial News Sources, Reference 
Resources, and Statistical Resources.

The address for the mini-portal is 
http://www.ehproject.org/live/Infoser.html

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