IHACC-Peru team presents work to Ministry of Health officials for National Commission on Climate Change

On August 27th-28th, members of the IHACC-Peru team participated in a two day meeting with members of the Peruvian Ministry of Health in the context of the National Commission on Climate Change in Lima, Peru. The Commission was created in 2014 in the wake of COP20 with the objective of working towards the establishment of a national strategy on climate change for the country.

The event was a great opportunity for IHACC researchers to discuss topics related to health and climate change with decision makers at the national level and to make connections with key informants that will help further research in the area. In attendance (both in person and virtual) were Carol Zavaleta (McGill), Jahir Anicama (UPCH), Margot Charette (McGill), Rosa Silvera (UPCH) and Paola Torres-Slimming (UofGuelph/UPCH).

During the first day of the meetings, IHACC researchers presented results from the project from IHACC communities in Ucayali and Loreto. The presentations were well received and the team was invited to a workshop the following day, that focused on identifying key diseases affected by climate change in Peru for monitoring and evaluation in the future.

As Carol Zavaleta states,

"It was my first presentation for Peruvian people about my thesis. I was very glad to hear a notorious concern about the gap of knowledge related with climate change and impacts on health. I received questions about my methods, but mostly about how to link climate change with the food security in a context where multiple factors are concurrent such as the Amazon region. One of the participants have indicated that the ministry of health did not have many investigations about climate change and that this thesis will help them to establish further additional research considering new variables (e.g. seasons) in order to prioritize interventions."

Similarly, Margot Charette noted that this event was a key opportunity for the IHACC group in Peru to show its interest in being involved in the climate change discussion at the national level, and to stay involved in the future. And as Jahir Animaca pointed out in his report, IHACC has been invited to continue to participate in the consultation process for the public health sector of the National Commission on Climate Change in Peru, so keep an eye out for more!

Dr. Shuaib Lwasa to present at McGill University Dept. of Geography GeoSpectives lecture series in September

Notes from the field: Sarah and Vivienne’s final days in Buhoma

Sarah MacVicar, an M.Sc. student from McGill University was in Uganda this summer conducting her thesis research with Vivienne Steele, a Research Assistant from the University of Guelph. Here is their last update from the field. Text and photos by Vivienne Steele and Sarah MacVicar.

We have wrapped up our seven weeks in the field and are now settling back into life in Canada. The final weeks were a flurry of data entry and sharing results with local partners but we managed to finish everything we needed to do.

Our biggest challenge was completing the data entry from the maternity records, but with some help from the wonderful records department staff, we were able to finish entering the complete set of records. The hospital IT staff were pleased with this contribution and we hope it will be helpful to a number of hospital staff in their research. One evening as we were working late entering records, we got the call we had been awaiting—there was a birth happening on the ward and we were invited to come and assist with the procedure! Cradling this brand new creature moments after it entered the world and tying off the umbilical cord put into perspective everything we have been working on. The experience made it starkly apparent why facility-based deliveries can be so important-- the mother bled profusely and the nurse was concerned about postpartum hemorrhaging. Fortunately the sutures held and the mother was able to sit up and meet her baby girl. As the nurse entered the birth information in the record, she asked for our names—we are now listed as having assisted during the birth on the very records we have spent weeks entering.

In our second last week in Buhoma our friend Levi from BDP guided us on the Batwa Experience tour. We headed up a steep mountain path and were welcomed by a traditional dance by several Batwa men and women, who then demonstrated honey-harvesting, hunting practices, and medicinal plant identification. Learning about the traditional way of life for the Batwa in the forest contrasted greatly with what we saw on our community visits to their new settlements. The preservation of traditional knowledge through the Batwa Experience is an important initiative, but it also reminded us how many traditional food sources were lost when the Batwa were evicted from the forest.

Another big highlight of our last two weeks in Buhoma was the chance to see some mountain gorillas! We got to watch a family of gorillas who were taking a break for a lunch snack on their way back into the park.

On our final day, we held a preliminary results sharing meeting at the hospital, where 40 BCH staff were in attendance. It was a great chance for us to give a summary of IHACC, our projects, the work we had been able to accomplish while at BCH, as well as next steps. We also gave an overview of the health records evaluation draft. Our presentation was well received, and the staff were eager to review the soft copies of the evaluation that we distributed. Many people offered some great feedback and questions about the direction of our research.

We will miss BCH, Bwindi and the many connections and friends we have made in Uganda. However, we are looking forward to continued collaboration with our Ugandan partners as we develop our projects over the coming months. We are very grateful to all who have helped us and feel fortunate to have had this experience. This time has reminded us both of the value of fieldwork; it has grounded our research in real-life experience and motivated us to make our research useful and relevant for BCH and the communities we have been working with.

New IHACC paper looking at food insecurity in Iqaluit, Nunavut published in International Journal of Circumpolar Health

Guo, Y., Berrang-Ford, L., Ford, J., Lardeau, MP., Edge, V., Patterson K., the IHACC Research Team, and Harper, S. (2015). Seasonal prevalence and determinants of food insecurity in Iqaluit, Nunavut. International Journal of Circumpolar Health.    Abstract

Background. Food insecurity is an ongoing problem in the Canadian Arctic. Although most studies have focused on smaller communities, little is known about food insecurity in larger centres.

Objectives. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of food insecurity during 2 different seasons in Iqaluit, the territorial capital of Nunavut, as well as identify associated risk factors.

Design. A modified United States Department of Agriculture Food Security Survey was applied to 532 randomly selected households in September 2012 and 523 in May 2013. Chi-square tests and multivariable logistic regression were used to examine potential associations between food security and 9 risk factors identified in the literature.

Results. In September 2012, 28.7% of surveyed households in Iqaluit were food insecure, a rate 3 times higher than the national average, but lower than smaller Inuit communities in Nunavut. Prevalence of food insecurity in September 2012 was not significantly different in May 2013 (27.2%). When aggregating results from Inuit households from both seasons (May and September), food insecurity was associated with poor quality housing and reliance on income support (p<0.01). Unemployment and younger age of the person in charge of food preparation were also significantly associated with food insecurity. In contrast to previous research among Arctic communities, gender and consumption of country food were not positively associated with food security. These results are consistent with research describing high food insecurity across the Canadian Arctic.

Conclusion. The factors associated with food insecurity in Iqaluit differed from those identified in smaller communities, suggesting that experiences with, and processes of, food insecurity may differ between small communities and larger commercial centres. These results suggest that country food consumption, traditional knowledge and sharing networks may play a less important role in larger Inuit communities.

IHACC-Peru PhD student Paola Torres-Slimming awarded UNESCO/Keizo Obuchi Research Fellowship

 

The IHACC team would like to congratulate Ms. Paola Alejandra Torres Slimming for being awarded a UNESCO/Keizo Obuchi Research Fellowship (also known as the UNESCO/Japan Young Researchers' fellowship).

The funds will enable Paola to undertake research on Adaptation to climate change: Water security in vulnerable populations for seven months at the University of Guelph in Canada with Dr. Sherilee Harper and the IHACC team, and the Instituto Nacional de Salud de Cuernavaca in Mexico with collaborators there.

From the entire IHACC team, congratulations Paola!