Ethiopian Journal of Health Development最新文献

Background: This review assessed Ethiopia's existing situation on issues related to the environment, climate change and health, and identifies gaps and needs that can be addressed through research, training, and capacity building.

Methods: The research was conducted through a comprehensive review of available secondary data and interviewing key informants in various national organizations involved in climate change adaptation and mitigation activities.

Results: Climate change-related health problems, such as mortality and morbidity due to floods and heat waves, vector-borne diseases, water-borne diseases, meningitis, and air pollution-related respiratory diseases are increasing in Ethiopia. Sensitive systems such as agriculture, health, and water have been affected, and the effects of climate change will continue to magnify without the right adaptation and mitigation measures. Currently, research on climate change and health is not adequately developed in Ethiopia. Research and other activities appear to be fragmented and uncoordinated. As a result, very few spatially detailed and methodologically consistent studies have been made to assess the impact of climate in the country. There has often been a lack of sufficient collaboration among organizations on the planning and execution of climate change and health activities, and the lack of trained professionals who can perform climate change and health-related research activities at various levels.

Conclusion: Firstly, there is a lack of organized structure in the various organizations. Secondly, there is inadequate level of inter-sectoral collaboration and poor coordination and communication among different stakeholders. Thirdly, there are no reliable policy guidelines and programs among organizations, agencies and offices that target climate change and health. Fourth, the existing policies fail to consider the gender and community-related dimensions of climate change. Fifth, the monitoring and evaluation efforts exerted on climate change and health activities are not strong enough to address the climate change and health issues in the country.

Background: Ethiopia produced its Environmental Health Situational Analysis and Needs Assessment (SANA) report in 2010 as part of the global endeavor to characterize and underscore the importance of connecting health and environment. The assessment methods used in SANA 2010 were updated, replicated and used in this SABNA. with a focus on air pollution, occupational safety and health, and climate change.

Objectives: The purpose of the review was to examine national policies and identify gaps in regulations and organizational arrangements that determine Ethiopia's ability to mitigate and eventually prevent the health impacts of air pollution, occupational hazards, and climate change.

Methods: The national policy and regulatory documents were reviewed. Literature was identified through electronic searches. Hard copies of past reports and policies were reviewed whenever necessary. A semi-structured guideline was used to conduct in-depth interviews aimed at identifying gaps and needs.

Results: The Constitution of Ethiopia has policy provisions related to air pollution, occupational safety and health (OSH), and climate change and health. Proclamation No. 300/2002 on Environmental Pollution Control specifies ambient air quality standards and allowable emissions. However, there were no documents that outlined the national or regional strategies that the ministries and agencies could adopt to translate existing policies, legal provisions, or guidelines for air pollution into practical programs. In the same way, a national OSH policy was lacking at the time this review was made on how occupational safety and health should be handled nationally or at lower governing levels as required by the International Occupation Safety and Health and Working Environment Convention No. 155/1981. Ethiopia is a signatory of this Convention.

Conclusions and recommendations: The results of the situational analysis indicate that there are cross-cutting gaps in the various sectors. Among these, addressing the critical shortage of skilled personnel is an urgent priority. Most stakeholders face acute shortages of professionals and poor retention mechanisms. It is therefore important to design interventions that focus on capacity building in, for example, aligning curricula with specific needs of ministries, andequip professionals with the necessary technical skills.In addition, the results indicate that policies and regulations exist in theory, but in practice, there are inadequate implementation strategies to encourage adherence and enforcement of the regulations and policies.

Background: The health effects of air pollution are generally global problems, but they have, since recently become issues of particular concern for developing countries. This review assessed the situation of air pollution and related health effects in the context of Ethiopia.

Methods: The materials reviewed in this publication are published scientific papers from online search engines, unpublished government reports and academic theses/dissertations. In addition, interview data obtained from authorities and experts involved in the management of air quality were analyzed, interpreted and reported in the article.

Results: Review of the few studies conducted in Ethiopia showed that average concentrations of PM_2.5 reached as high as 280 µg/m³ for 24-hour measurements (range: 2,417-12,739 µg/m³). Indoor carbon monoxide (CO) levels were universally higher than regulatory limits for the United States and were found to be much higher among households using traditional stoves and solid biomass fuels. The use of traditional stoves and solid biomass fuels was reported in >95% of the households considered. High average levels of NO₂ (97 ppb) were reported in a large longitudinal study. The ambient PM₁₀ level was below the WHO guideline values in the majority of the samples. About 50% of the on-road CO samples taken from traffic roads in Addis Ababa were found to be less than the guideline values while the number of motor vehicles in Ethiopia is reported to be increasing by more than 9% per annum. There is a very limited air quality monitoring capacity in the country. The co-ordination between stakeholders in this regard is also inadequate. The limited evidence available on health effects of air pollution indicates that the prevalence of acute respiratory illness among children living in households using crude biomass fuels is significantly higher than the national average figures.

Conclusion: The limited evidence reviewed and reported in this article indicates high levels of indoor air pollution and trends of worsening outdoor air pollution. This tentative conclusion carries with it the urgent need for more evidence-based research and capacity building in the areas of indoor and outdoor air pollution.