IHACC team publishes on Malarial Prevalence and Risk Factors for the Batwa Indigenous Peoples of Uganda

Update by: Ellen Sykes

Further congratulations to Didacus Namanya, Agnes Kasede Napyo and other members of the IHACC Research team for a recent article, from July 2023, “Malaria Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors among Batwa Indigenous People of Kanungu District in Southwestern Uganda: Does “Place” Matter?” published in the Journal of Biosciences and Medicines.

Malaria is a vector borne disease that can be detected using rapid testing. Testing is particularly important when evaluating disease metrics within vulnerable populations such as Indigenous peoples. The Batwa Indigenous Peoples of Uganda have a higher incidence of malaria compared to national levels and even compared to non-indigenous populations in the same district. This study set out to evaluate the association between “place” and other risk factors among malaria prevalence in Batwa Indigenous Peoples. In conclusion, place was determined to be a factor in determining malaria presence as well as other factors such as age, elevation and gender. It is for these reasons that a hotspots intervention approach is recommended to reduce the malarial burden on this population.

Please access this publication here.

New publication! Malaria Illness and Accessing Healthcare in an African Indigenous Population: A Qualitative Study of the Lived Experiences of Uganda’s Batwa in Kanungu District

Update by: Ellen Sykes

Congratulations to  Didacus Namanya, Shuaib Lwasa, and members of the IHACC Research Team for their article, “Malaria Illness and Accessing Healthcare in an African Indigenous Population: A Qualitative Study of the Lived Experiences of Uganda’s Batwa in Kanungu District”, published in the Journal of Biosciences and Medicines in May 2023.

This article details the lived experiences of the Batwa Indigenous peoples of Uganda with respect to malaria and access to healthcare systems. This work is essential for understanding, appreciating and supporting Indigenous populations in Uganda. Preventative measures are critical in controlling malarial infections and the Batwa know its causes and risk factors. These risk factors include not sleeping under insecticide-treated mosquito nets, and living near bodies of water. These lived experiences show that the Batwa detect malaria symptoms, use herbs as a first line of treatment, buy medicines from drug shops and receive treatment from village health teams. The understanding of Batwa lived experiences is critical to development of policy and interventions that will best support their communities.

Please access this publication here.

IHACC Team Publishes on Climate Changes and the Use of Trails in the Arctic

Update by: Marina Fernandes Barbosa da Silva 

Congratulations to  James Ford, Sherilee Harper, and members of the IHACC Research Team for their recent article, “Projected decrease in trail access in the Arctic”, published in Communications Earth & Environment.  

The article projects how climate change will affect access to semi-permanent trails on land, water, and sea ice in Inuit Nunangat (the Inuit homeland in Canada) this century. Trails are essential for people to travel for hunting, trapping, and fishing, and altered access will impact Inuit livelihoods and culture. The results of the study allow us to better understand how temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and other climate variables will impact trail conditions, and these findings provide insight into the potential consequences for Arctic communities, taking into consideration factors such as risk tolerance and skill level. This study brings together local knowledge and climate change modelling to develop a comprehensive understanding of how climate change could disrupt Arctic transport networks. The study further highlights the need to consider adaptation opportunities. Study results can be further explored through the Arctic Trail Modelling Platform, accessible here.  

Click here to access the publication. 

Figure 8 from Ford et al., (2023) shows how the authors developed the trail access projections using a 7-step ethnoclimatological modeling framework that connected trail users’ local knowledge and CMIP6 global climate simulations.

CITATION

Ford, J.D., Clark, D.G., Copland, L. et al. Projected decrease in trail access in the Arctic. Commun Earth Environ 4, 23 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00685-w

Does Wildlife Co-management Acknowledge Indigenous Health? Publication from IHACC Investigators

Update by: Edris Formuli 

Congratulations to Drs. Jamie Snook, Ashlee Cunsolo, James Ford, and Sherilee Harper for their new systematic critical review titled: “The connection between wildlife co-management and indigenous well-being: What does the academic literature reveal?”. The review found that the co-management systems literature does not explicitly analyze co-management from the perspective of Indigenous health and well-being, but rather focuses on related social determinants of Indigenous Peoples’ health such as land and ecosystems, food systems and security, Indigenous knowledge systems, culture, self-determination, and colonialism. The absence of co-management research with a direct focus on Indigenous health raises questions about the risks to and prioritization of Indigenous well-being. The results of the review suggest that there are considerable opportunities to enhance co-management approaches to protect and improve the health and well-being of Indigenous communities.

Figure 1 from Snook et al., (2022) presents a synthesized list of twelve distal, intermediate, and proximal social determinants of health based on Indigenous perspectives, which was used as an analytical framework in the review.

Click here to access the publication

CITATION:

Snook, J., Cunsolo, A., Ford, J., Furgal, C., Jones-Bitton, A., & Harper, S. L. (2022). The connection between wildlife co-management and indigenous well-being: What does the academic literature reveal? Wellbeing, Space and Society, 3, 100116.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wss.2022.100116

IHACC investigator Sherilee Harper led development of international report, Taking action against climate change will benefit health and advance health equity in the Americas

Dr. Sherilee Harper led a team that included multiple IHACC investigators to develop a report titled, Taking action against climate change will benefit health and advance health equity in the Americas, which was published by the InterAmerican Network of Academies of Sciences (IANAS). This report focuses on how adaptation and mitigation strategies can reduce the negative health consequences of climate change, and considers the ways in which we can diminish the contribution of health systems to climate change. Equity is a central theme of the report, which highlights how negative health outcomes associated with climate change are unevenly distributed, and emphasizes how future action must consider the needs of the most vulnerable. 

Access the report here.

Figure 1 from Harper et al. (2022) provides a summary of key health impacts related to climate change hazards in the Americas.

CITATION

IANAS (2022). Taking action against climate change will benefit health and advance health equity in the Americas. (S.L. Harper & J.N McNeil, Eds.) Inter-American Network of Academies of Sciences (IANAS) and InterAcademy Partnership (IAP).