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dam-l Irrigation and malaria article/LS

>From the BBC. Old, but v. interesting.


               Friday, September 10, 1999 Published at 00:19 GMT 01:19 UK


               Health

               Irrigation 'increases malaria rates'

               Irrigation reduces farmers' reliance on regular rain

               Irrigation programmes to restore the fertility of
drought-stricken Ethiopia have
               caused a seven-fold increase in the rate of malaria,
researchers have said.

               The researchers warn that before large-scale projects are
launched, an assessment
               of the health impact should be made, and action taken to
prevent diseases from
               gaining a foothold.

               However, they stress that such schemes are vital to boost
agriculture in
               famine-hit areas.

               The problem occurs because water can carry disease and
provides a breeding
               ground for the mosquitoes that transmit it to humans.

               In the rush to provide better water facilities,
organisations can neglect to prepare
               communities for the re-emergence of disease or introduce
adequate protection for
               the water itself.

               Fighting drought

               The study, published in the British Medical Journal, looked
at what happened in
               the Tigray region of Ethiopia following the introduction of
dams and irrigation
               systems.

               The measures had been introduced to reduce local
agriculture's dependence on
               regular rainfall following the famines - caused by drought -
in 1974 and1984.

               But while the scheme has had a positive impact on
agriculture, the effect on
               health has been worrying, with an increased incidence of
malaria and seven times
               as many children in villages near the dams getting the
disease compared with
               those living further away.

               The findings are similar to those in a study of similar
projects in Sri Lanka and
               raise fears that, unless properly thought out, schemes to
improve the environment
               could do as much harm as good.

               'Dams are good'

               Dr Peter Byass, of the School of Community Health Sciences
at Nottingham
               University, helped run the study, which was set up by the
Tigray authorities to
               monitor the health impact of their measures.


                                     "It's easy to jump to the conclusion that
                                     dams are bad, but that very definitely
isn't
                                     the conclusion because we're talking about
                                     a very dry arid area where people and
                                     animals and farmers must have water," he
                                     said.

                                     "We're only too well aware of the
                                     droughts that have affected this region in
                                     recent years, so the dams are a very
                                     important strategic development, but on
                                     the other hand we also have to be aware of
                                     side effects like this that may be
                                     associated with them."

                                     However, damming projects like this were
                                     taking place around the world yet very few
                                     had included monitoring of side effects -
                                     despite the obvious impact they have.

               Avoiding risks

               Ray Heslop, an engineering adviser for Water Aid, a charity
that helps
               communities gain access to clean drinking water, said the
organisation was well
               aware of the health risks associated with new water supplies.

               "We even consider the loss of water from taps, and make sure
it seeps straight
               into the ground and doesn't lie ponding," he said.

               "It is a thing we consider because the objective of our
projects is to improve the
               quality of people's lives, and that includes their health."

               However, it there was a danger that organisations working on
larger-scale projects
               such as irrigation and dam building, would overlook such
matters and would have
               to revise their approach.

               The researchers have just completed a study of how giving
villagers bed nets
               helps prevent the spread of malaria and compared the cost of
that with the value of
               the benefits offered by irrigation.

               They hope to establish the most cost-effective way for
projects that improve the
               environment to protect health at the same time, and will
present their results in
               the near future.

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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
        and Editor, World Rivers Review
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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