Environment
Africa, UN Agencies Partner to Combat Environmental Challenges
By ARCHIBONG ASUQUO, (NAN)
The World Health Organisation (WHO), says that environmentally-induced diseases account for a significant number of deaths in Africa.
About 2.4 million people, it says, lost their lives in Africa in 2002 due the consumption of unsafe water, pollution, poor sanitation, inadequate waste disposal, insufficient disease vector control and exposure to harmful chemicals.
Besides, Africa is reputed to be one of the most vulnerable regions of the world to climate change, and has the least adaptive capacity to check the phenomenon.
The link between environment and health is said to be more pronounced in Africa than in any other continent.
This is due to Africa's unique high level of endemicity, which is seen, in a number of communicable diseases with strong links to the environment, and the relative fragility of its ecosystem.
Also, WHO and the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) say Africa continues to face development challenges such as weak health systems, lack of access to safe drinking water and lack of access to hygiene and sanitation.
The continent is also assailed with the problems of poorly designed irrigation and water systems, road and building construction activities, inadequate housing, poor waste disposal and water storage.
It is also agreed that high levels of air pollution, unsafe water supplies, inadequate sanitation and unhygienically prepared food are widespread in many parts of the continent.
Dr Luis Sambo, WHO Regional Director for Africa, says African countries share common ecosystems; hence the impact of the environment on health transcends national borders.
According to him, an accelerated effort is therefore needed to deal with the outbreak of diseases caused by changes in the environment.
Against these plethora of challenges, the WHO and UNEP, with support from of the Gabonese government, came together to seek ways of rescuing Africa from environmentally-related diseases.
The two global organisations organised the first Inter-Ministerial Conference on Health and Environment in Africa in Libreville, Gabon on between Aug. 26 and Aug 29.
The conference with the theme, ''Health Security through Healthy Environment,'' was attended by high level experts, academics, policy makers, bilateral and multilateral institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGO)s.
The conference, which is the first of its kind on the continent, was meant to secure a political commitment for catalysing an integrated approach to obtaining institutional and investment changes required to reduce environmental threats to health in Africa.
Delivering a keynote address, Nigeria's Environment and Housing Development Minister Halima Alao stressed the need for a sound management of waste in Africa, saying it was a recipe for good health and sustainable livelihood.
According to her, Nigeria has taken steps toward sound management of the environment in a bid to improve the health of her citizens.
''In February this year, our government took an administrative decision to restrict the importation of unserviceable, used and end of life waste electrical and electronic equipment,'' she said.
Alao said that the Federal Government was also considering the establishment of a National Health Care Waste Management plan.
She also disclosed that in 2005 Nigeria launched its National Environment Sanitation policy, targeted at increasing access to toilet facilities to all Nigerians by 2010 and to reduce sanitation illnesses and mortality by 75 per cent by 2010.
Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, South Africa's Minister of Health, stressed the need for African leaders to adopt ''clear cut'' policies in tackling issues of environmental degradation in their countries.
She said African Ministers of Health must also collaborate with their counterparts in environment to address the environmental challenges facing their people.
''We have quite a lot of our citizens dying daily due to the fact that we haven't quite addressed issues of the environment.
''Issues pertaining to the environment are closely linked to poverty, under-development and poor nutrition,'' she added.
Ms Lebohang Ntsinyi, Minister of Tourism, Environment and Culture in the Kingdom of Lesotho, listed the availability of good drinking water, good sanitation and pollution as some of the environmental challenges facing Africans.
To address these challenges, she urged African governments to enact necessary legislation and provide the needed infrastructure to curb diseases caused by changes in the environment.
At the end of the conference, the ministers adopted the ''Libreville Declaration'' on Health and Environment in Africa.
The document urged AU member-states to update their national policies to effectively address health and environment linkages.
The ministers stated that the linkages should be incorporated in national development policies, strategies and development plans.
They called for the implementation of inter-sectorial programmes at all levels in health and environment with the aim of accelerating the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
They also urged AU member-states to build national and regional capacities to address linkages between health and environment.
Analysts say although Africa possesses the potential for sustainable development, the conditions for their being fruition are dismal.
They, however, agree that the solution lies in forging a deliberate effort to address the crucial environmental and health problems facing the continent.
With decreasing of rainfall pattern and the resultant treat of drought and desertification in many African countries, there is therefore the need for African governments to consciously tackle the problems of water scarcity in the region.
Experts agree that this can be achieved through the provision of potable water to meet the needs of the people.
For them, this is because water is the bases for most of the environment-related health problems confronting Africans.
But the question is whether the African political leadership is capable of addressing this fundamental need of the majority of the people?