[afro-nets] In preparation of People's Health Assembly II - part 30

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

In preparation of People's Health Assembly II - part 30
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ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR AN UPSURGE OF NEW IN-
FECTIOUS DISEASES

Loss of forests, road and dam building, the spread of cities,
the clearing of natural habitats for agriculture, mining and the
pollution of coastal waters are promoting conditions under which
well known pathogens such as malaria, meningitis, and dengue fe-
ver can thrive.

In addition, diseases that have in the past infected animals are
now crossing over to humans. For instance, scientists report
that the highly pathogenic Nipah virus, which until recently was
found only in Asian fruit bats, first moved to swine, and has
now spread to humans.

A combination of forest fires in Sumatra and the clearance of
natural forests in Malaysia for palm plantations drove hungry
fruit bats into closer contact to domestic pigs, giving the vi-
rus a chance to spread to humans as people handled the infected
swine.

Climate change may aggravate the threats of infectious diseases
in three ways, the experts write - by increasing the tempera-
tures under which many diseases and their carriers flourish, by
further stressing and altering habitats, and by increasing the
number of environmental refugees who are carrying their infec-
tions to new locations.

These are among the findings from UNEP in its latest "Global En-
vironment Outlook Year Book 2004/2005." The "GEO Year Book" also
links yellow fever, Kyasanur Forest disease and Ebola with de-
forestation and its effects.

Land use change, in the form of agriculture, is linked with the
rise and spread of diseases like Western and Venezuelan equine
encephalitis and typhus. Tuberculosis, bubonic plague and hanta-
virus pulmonary syndrome are linked with unplanned urbanization.
Chemicals and antibiotics in farm animal wastes are helping to
make disease-causing bacteria more resistant to drugs with im-
plications for infections such as hepatitis and some diarrheal
diseases.

Meanwhile, air pollution from transport and factories is linked
with increased incidence of respiratory infections. Pollution of
coastal waters from raw untreated sewage is a key factor in
cholera outbreaks worldwide.

The Governing Council is placing emphasis on the UN's Millenium
Development Goals during this week's meeting. In September, na-
tions will gather in New York for a meeting of the UN General
Assembly to evaluate progress towards achieving the eight Mil-
lennium Development Goals. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Women in decision-making roles are needed both at high and
grassroots levels, and women are crucial in the mainstreaming of
environmental issues in rural areas. By the year 2015, all 191
United Nations members have agreed to meet the goals to reduce
hunger and thirst, improve children's health and education, pro-
mote gender equality, improve maternal health, combat AIDS, ma-
laria and other diseases, reverse the loss of environmental re-
sources, and develop global economic opportunities.

The 2003 UNEP Governing Council decided to hold an international
chemicals conference around the end of 2005, and two preparatory
meetings to set up that conference were held last year.

Meanwhile, a proposal to ban thin plastic shopping bags in Kenya
and slap a hefty price on thicker ones was floated in a report
released today at the Governing Council. Cash raised from the
levy would go towards the setting up efficient recycling sys-
tems, says the report funded by UNEP and the National Environ-
ment Management Authority of Kenya.

At least two million plastic bags are now being handed out each
year to people shopping at supermarkets and kiosks in Nairobi
alone.

The bags, many of which are so thin they are simply thrown away
after one trip from the shops, have become a familiar eyesore in
both urban and countryside areas. They block gutters and drains,
choke farm animals and marine wildlife and pollute the soil as
they gradually break down.

Wangari Mathaai, the assistant environment minister in Kenya and
2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has linked plastic bag litter
with malaria. The bags, when discarded, can fill with rainwater
offering ideal and new breeding grounds for the malaria-carrying
mosquitoes.

A ban on bags less than 30 microns thick and the levy on thicker
ones are among a raft of proposals aimed at reducing the use of
polythene bags and

Operating the plastic bag levy could become a blueprint for
similar schemes aimed at stemming the rising tide of other
wastes confronting Kenya and countries across Africa and the de-
veloping world.

The "Global Environment Outlook Year Book 2004/2005" can be
downloaded as Adobe PDF file (104 pp. 9.8 MB!) at:
http://www.unep.org/geo/pdfs/GEO%20YEARBOOK%202004%20(ENG).pdf

The UNEP Governing Council website can be found at:
www.unep.org/gc/gc23/

UNEP's 2004 Global Environment Outlook report can be accessed
at: http://www.unep.org/geo/yearbook/


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