Category Archives: farming

World Water Week: Addressing Water and Food Security’s Effect on NTDs and Development

Africa, END7, farming, food security, Global Development, Global Health, NTDs, poverty, Water and Sanitation, World Water Week 2011

Stockholm, Sweden, August 26-31, 2012 :  The leading minds in environment, health, climate change, economics, and poverty reduction gathered in Stockholm for the annual World Water Week, hosted by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).  Operating since 1991, the event highlights the importance of partnerships between the different fields of expertise when determining the best and most feasible solutions to global water issues.

This year, the World Water Week focused on the importance and challenges of “Water and Food Security,”, and emphasized the importance of improving sanitation and reducing wasteful practices around the globe.  More than enough food is produced to feed the world’s population, yet one billion people don’t get the nourishment they need.  Despite the one billion people going hungry, around one third of food produced is thrown away or otherwise wasted.  It is important to note even though these numbers are both astounding and frustrating, food alone will not solve this problem.  Half of malnutrition cases are related to unclean water, insufficient sanitation, or poor hygiene.

For the Global Network, this message is extremely important.  Poor sanitation and hygiene are leading factors in the spread of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).  There are nearly 500million people without access to clean water, and a greater two billion without access to a proper toilet.  An insufficient or dirty water supply, poor hygiene practices, as well as limited or no access to sanitation facilities lead to the spread of NTDs.  Improving these issues could substantially decrease NTDs, improving health and standard of living in many developing areas.  Disease and undernourishment severely limit the productivity of the work force, putting strain on the entire community.  For example, in Nigeria’s rice farming communities, contracting Schistosmiasis in the swampy farmlands can result in a loss of more than a month’s worth of labor days per person (for information about NTDs in Nigeria’s swamp rice farms, read more here ). Clean water, sanitation, and good hygiene go beyond improving health to facilitate the productivity and over all living standard of a community.  The benefits of clean and available water span across all fields of development. For World Water Week participants, this is the bottom line.

 

To learn more about the World Water Week’s purpose and agenda, check out their website at www.worldwaterweek.org

The Demise of African Sleeping Sickness is Near.

Africa, farming, Global Health, NTDs, Public Health, , sleeping sickness

Tsetse Fly-Google Images

The elimination of Human African Trypanosomiasis, also known as African sleeping sickness, is in sight! In the February 2011 issue of PLoS Neglected Tropical Disease Journal, contributing editor Serap Aksoy discusses the triumphs behind the control of African Sleeping Sickness.  He attributes much of this success to the “ambitious campaign” led by World Health Organization (WHO) and drug donations by Sanofi-Aventis and Bayer.

In this issue of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Pere P. Simarro and colleagues from WHO report that the number of new cases diagnosed with HAT in 2009 has dropped below 10,000 for the first time in 50 years, signaling a possible end to the latest epidemic cycle as a major public health problem. This decline was achieved through an ambitious campaign led by WHO, and many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and thanks to a public–private partnership with Sanofi-Aventis and Bayer to donate and distribute the necessary drugs to WHO for use in affected countries.

The role of government support is crucial in the suppression of global and public health threats; Aksoy recognizes that the support of African heads of state was an essential contribution to the recent reduction of infections.

Also crucial in HAT control was the recognition of the problem by African heads of state and governments during the African Union Summit in Lomé in 2000 where the Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC) was initiated with the objective to render Africa a tsetse- and trypanosomiasis-free continent [5].

As we move forward with control and reduction of this and many other Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), it is important to recognize that often, it is when one is close to the finish line that it becomes hardest to finish.   So, while the reduction in the number of cases reported for sleeping sickness is a huge victory in global health and NTD control, there is still much work to be done towards elimination.

African Sleeping Sickness is a parasitic diseases transmitted by the blood-sucking tsetse fly. Tsetse flies are unique to Sub-Saharan Africa and have the greatest impact in rural regions that rely heavily on farming, hunting, and fishing.

Read the full article here!

Southern Philippines Irrigation Sector

Asia, farming, Global Development, NTDs, poverty, Uncategorized, irrigation, , , ,

click photo to return to image source

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has proposed a new project to alleviate poverty and improve irrigation and farmer productivity in four regions of Southern Philippines.

The objective of the Project is to increase incomes of about 10,000 farm households through increased agricultural production and crop diversification, resulting from investment in irrigation infrastructure and measures to promote user participation in project development or improvement and subsequent system management.

The project endeavors to improve agricultural production, diversification of crops, and the standard of living in Southern Philippines agrarian communities. The advancement of rural irrigation systems will promote high crop yields, healthier soil, and a stable economy.

The project also provides for improved management of degraded watersheds, resettlement of populations displaced by reservoir impoundment, measures to control schistosomiasis and development of indigenous people.

Scistomiasis is one of the most common and deadly Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD).  It is transmitted by contact with contaminated fresh water.  Irrigation is the artificial application of water into soil to promote crop growth.  Contaminated water used to grow crops will contaminate the food supply and amplify the risk of contracting scistomiasis in a community.

Learn more here!


Leave a comment