Category Archives: environment

Addressing Environmental Health in the Philippines

How Environment Impacts the Health and Wellbeing of those living in the Philippines
 
In the Philippines, Doctors of the World has initiated a health and environment project in San Andres, in the city of Manila. Most residents there live in informal housing and shacks crowded into low-lying land that used to be swamps and which today remain regularly flooded during the rainy season. DotW has been working with these inhabitants since 2018 and supports them in identifying and mitigating the risks associated with their precarious living environment.
The intervention initially started in Barangay 775, a district in Manila, and was extended in 2021 to Zone 84, an area where nearly 40,000 people live. Activities and community mobilization have been supported with the help of volunteers from the “AYOS” project (“Let’s go!” in Tagalog).
DotW supported the creation of the local organization by integrating the project’s historical volunteers. Together and with our support, the inhabitants of Area 84 and volunteers of the organization have worked on making their neighborhoods “clean, green, and safe. »
 

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Addressing Environmental Health in the Philippines

How Environment Impacts the Health and Wellbeing of those living in the Philippines
 
In the Philippines, Doctors of the World has initiated a health and environment project in San Andres, in the city of Manila. Most residents there live in informal housing and shacks crowded into low-lying land that used to be swamps and which today remain regularly flooded during the rainy season. DotW has been working with these inhabitants since 2018 and supports them in identifying and mitigating the risks associated with their precarious living environment.
The intervention initially started in Barangay 775, a district in Manila, and was extended in 2021 to Zone 84, an area where nearly 40,000 people live. Activities and community mobilization have been supported with the help of volunteers from the “AYOS” project (“Let’s go!” in Tagalog).
DotW supported the creation of the local organization by integrating the project’s historical volunteers. Together and with our support, the inhabitants of Area 84 and volunteers of the organization have worked on making their neighborhoods “clean, green, and safe. »
 

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The Cost of Urbanization on Nepal

Support Waste Collectors & Recyclers 

Since 2018, DoTW has been working with waste collectors and recyclers in the Kathmandu Valley, and in 2020, has extended its activities to Nepalgunj.
The activities carried out in the two regions contribute to improving the health, well-being and livelihoods of collectors and recyclers in the waste sector. In concrete terms, DoTW aims to mitigate the risks associated with their professional activity and their exposure to a harmful environment and to improve their access to information and to appropriate, quality health services – including in the field of occupational health. Finally, this intervention should enable better recognition of their contribution to sustainable waste management in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj.
In 2021, DoTW supported the creation of a coordination platform in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj with public and private organizations, civil society or non-governmental organizations involved in the collection and recycling waste: the players in this sector were able to meet, discuss and draw attention to the problems encountered by workers in this sector, thus strengthening their power to act.

Throughout these years, DoTW strengthened the access of collectors and recyclers in the waste sector to quality health services adapted to their professional activity. Awareness sessions were organized for beneficiaries, in particular on the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders, the prevention of risks related to the dismantling of waste, or even on the prevention of animal bites and the tetanus vaccine.

DoTW has further strengthened the capacities of health care facility staff on health and safety at work: the staff of these facilities can thus offer medical consultations adapted to waste collectors and recyclers.  Finally, Médecins du Monde has supported the municipality of Kathmandu in upgrading an innovative health center, becoming an “urban center for the promotion of health”, accessible to workers in the waste sector but also to the inhabitants of the Valley. 

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The Cost of Urbanization on Nepal

Support Waste Collectors & Recyclers 

Since 2018, DoTW has been working with waste collectors and recyclers in the Kathmandu Valley, and in 2020, has extended its activities to Nepalgunj.
The activities carried out in the two regions contribute to improving the health, well-being and livelihoods of collectors and recyclers in the waste sector. In concrete terms, DoTW aims to mitigate the risks associated with their professional activity and their exposure to a harmful environment and to improve their access to information and to appropriate, quality health services – including in the field of occupational health. Finally, this intervention should enable better recognition of their contribution to sustainable waste management in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj.
In 2021, DoTW supported the creation of a coordination platform in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj with public and private organizations, civil society or non-governmental organizations involved in the collection and recycling waste: the players in this sector were able to meet, discuss and draw attention to the problems encountered by workers in this sector, thus strengthening their power to act.

Throughout these years, DoTW strengthened the access of collectors and recyclers in the waste sector to quality health services adapted to their professional activity. Awareness sessions were organized for beneficiaries, in particular on the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders, the prevention of risks related to the dismantling of waste, or even on the prevention of animal bites and the tetanus vaccine.

DoTW has further strengthened the capacities of health care facility staff on health and safety at work: the staff of these facilities can thus offer medical consultations adapted to waste collectors and recyclers.  Finally, Médecins du Monde has supported the municipality of Kathmandu in upgrading an innovative health center, becoming an “urban center for the promotion of health”, accessible to workers in the waste sector but also to the inhabitants of the Valley. 

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Slums in France

Crisis in the Slums: Eviction with poor efforts to relocate. 

In 2018, the French President Emmanuel Macron, declared his desire to reduce the existence of slums in his speech on France’s fight against poverty. Along with this speech, strategies were shared on how to allow people effective access to housing, work, and also to a stabilized course of care and schooling for children. Unfortunately, the current approach is struggling to produce positive effects on the ground, and a large number of prefectures continue to evict without relocating. 

The reality is that France prefers to eradicate slums through the demolition of these habits, without providing open access to housing for populations living in poverty and in unsanitary conditions. These repeated evictions have serious consequences on the health of people living in slums in France: not only are they excluded from the health system, but they also break the continuity of care and make it difficult to prevent and fight against epidemics. This disastrous policy has been denounced by the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights and the European Commissioner for Human Rights.

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Doctors of the World statement on COP27

Health needs to be integrated into climate action! 

When addressing climate change, it is essential that health must be included in the discussion. The floods that occurred in Asia this past summer have affected 42 million people, destroying their homes, healthcare infrastructure, crops, access to clean water and exposing them to viral outbreaks like cholera and dengue. The insecurity that occurs post climate disaster can heavily impact an individual’s mental health. Despite the clear link between environment and health, there is a lack of integration in new climate policies. Health must become a part of climate action and climate change must be incorporated in the healthcare sector.
Doctors of the World calls on intergovernmental organizations and national governments to take action for the integration of health in the development and implementation of climate policies.
 
Renewable based energy transition is needed

Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, has argued that the only veritable path to a livable planet requires that we abandon the polluting fossil fuels and accelerate our transition to renewable energy. Yet, according to Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, “Only about 133 billion dollars are channeled into nature-based solutions, and investments must triple by 2030 to meet the climate, the nature, and land-neutrality targets.” 
Doctors of the World calls on governments to replace fossil fuels with renewables-based energy and to invest in and encourage the use of nature-based solutions for a real energy transition.
 

Multinational corporations (MNCs) and overconsumption are part of the problem

MNCs and their supply chains are some of the biggest polluters in the world. They are accountable for  20% of CO2 emissions. Thus, when it comes to the COP27 agenda, MNCs must be a central figure in the discussion of resolving climate change. Furthermore, the global community must reflect on the whole social system they have based on consumption and massive production. It is time to call for governmental regulations that are rooted in social change and change our role as mass consumers. 
Doctors of the World urges governments and NGOs to take action in the fight against overconsumption and massive production through necessary regulations and awareness raising.
 
 
 
Photography 
Fahran Khan Anadolu AFP

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