Asia: Search Asia by country

1. Health Environments India

http://www.toxicslink.org/

Success story: Delhi hospitals phase out mercury

By Priti Mahesh
Published in www.toxicslink.org, 16/08/2005

Some Delhi hospitals have taken the lead in phasing out mercury-based equipment.

India environmental issues

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/indiaenv.html

India's ongoing population explosion has placed great strain on the country's environment. This rapidly growing population, along with a move toward urbanization and industrialization, has placed significant pressure on India's infrastructure and its natural resources. Deforestation, soil erosion, water pollution and land degradation continue to worsen and are hindering economic development in rural India, while the rapid industrialization and urbanization in India's booming metropolises are straining the limits of municipal services and causing serious air pollution problems.

 2. WHO COUNTRY STUDIES

Updates on health environment conditions in each country … e.g. southern asia

http://w3.whosea.org/EN/Section313/Section1519_6805.htm

3. Sector health promotion ... e.g. LIVESTOCK ...

Note domestic animals and human health: avian flu

http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/res/industrialization.htm

LEAD approach to addressing Land, water and air pollution by industrial livestock production
Livestock Industrialization, Trade and Social-Health-Environment Impacts in Developing Countries: Brazil, India, the Philippines and Thailand Objective The overall objective of this project was to identify options for developing countries to improve social, health and environmental outcomes in their livestock sectors, while avoiding artificially (and often inadvertently) promoting the ramping up of the scale of livestock operations through inappropriate policies or failure to act when economically justifiable opportunities for improvement are available. The urgency of the topic derives from the fact that livestock is one of the few commodities that smallholder farmers produce that is growing rapidly in demand, and if they cannot compete in this area, the overall prospects for them in farming are bleak.

4. Disease-Condition Specific Projects/Assessments ... note: arsenic poisoning, HIV/AIDS, diabetes (NY Times), obesity issues

http://www.fluoridealert.org/fluorosis-india.htm

Skeletal fluorosis: Recent reports from India

 

Introduction - Skeletal Fluorosis in India & Its Relevance to the West - Fluoride Action Network, May 2004 Included below are recent newspaper articles detailing the impact of skeletal fluorosis in India. Skeletal fluorosis is a bone disease caused by excessive consumption of fluoride. In India, the most common cause of fluorosis is fluoride-laden water derived from borewells dug deep into the earth While fluorosis is most severe and widespread in the two largest countries - India and China - UNICEF estimates that "fluorosis is endemic in at least 25 countries across the globe. The total number of people affected is not known, but a conservative estimate would number in the tens of millions." Common causes of fluorosis include: inhalation of fluoride dusts/fumes by workers in industry, use of coal as an indoor fuel source (a common practice in China), and consumption of fluoride from drinking water. In China, the World Health Organization recently estimated that 2.7 million people have the crippling form of skeletal fluorosis, while in India, 17 of its 32 states have been identified as "endemic" areas, with an estimated 66 million people at risk and 6 million people seriously afflicted. According to scientific surveys, skeletal fluorosis in India and China occurs when the fluoride concentration in water exceeds 1 part per million (ppm), and has been found to occur in communities with only 0.7 part per million (SOURCE: Singh 1961; Singh 1963; Jolly 1970; Siddiqui 1970; Susheela 1993; Choubisa 1997; Xu 1997; Bo 2003). The Chinese government now considers any water supply containing over 1 ppm fluoride a risk for skeletal fluorosis (SOURCE: Bo 2003).

 

5. Country issue reports – major research centers with online publication

Stockholm Environment Institute

http://www.sei.se/newreport.html#august

When Rapid Changes in Environmental, Social and Economic Conditions Converge:
Challenges to Sustainable Livelihoods in Dak Lak, Vietnam
Lindskog, E., Dow, K., Nilsson Axberg, G., Miller, F., and Hancock, A.

Vulnerability analysis tends to focus on single stresses, such as droughts or floods. Little attention has been given to date to communities’ vulnerability to multiple stressors. This report documents and analyses a multi-stressor situation in Dak Lak Province in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Our aims were to find ways of building sustainability and resilience into development strategies and support mechanisms for local sustainable natural resource use.

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Linking Water Scarcity to Population Movements
Dow, K., Carr, E., Douma, A., Han, G., Hallding, K.

This paper examines the evidence behind forecasts suggesting that water scarcity may result in increasingly large numbers of environmental refugees in the near future. This evaluation differs from existing studies as it incorporates current research on migration decisions and on human vulnerability and resilience in the face of environmental stresses. This approach shifts the focus from the physical lack of resources to the social-ecological systems supporting human communities. It considers physical issues of water scarcity together with local water needs assessments and the social capability to adjust water demands or draw on other resources to make water available locally.
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 Connecting Health with Vulnerability to Environmental Stress
Makri, A.

This report explores connections between health and vulnerability from a risk-based perspective, considering children as a population subject to differential impacts from and vulnerability to environmental stress; water-related exposures as the environmental stressor; and urban poverty in developing countries as the setting associated with factors - in the social-economic and physical environment - that contribute to vulnerability. These themes define a population living under conditions where the impact of an environmental stressor is greatest, and whose vulnerability encompasses multiple pathways or types of health risk.

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  Food System Scenarios: Exploring Global/Local Linkages
Downing, T., Ziervogel, G.

There are two dominant modes of scenario construction. The most widely known are at a generalised and often global level, usually developed by small teams of experts representing different sectors. This ‘top-down’ approach provides a consistent framework for a variety of studies. The other mode builds ‘bottom up’ scenarios that tend to focus on local-level dynamics and are based on participatory and stakeholder methods. It is considerably more difficult to construct a participatory, representative process around global scenarios. This paper explores scenario methodologies, defines a more integrated scenario approach that integrates local livelihoods dimensions with national or global stressors, and addresses a number of challenges that must be met to make substantial progress in framing and using scenarios.

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