Two IHACC collaborators from the University of Guelph are currently in Buhoma, Uganda collecting birth outcome data on local communities from Bwindi Community Hospital. Kate (a PhD student at the University of Guelph) and Vivienne (a McGill University graduate now working as a Research Assistant at the University of Guelph) are helping collect data for Sarah MacVicar's M.Sc. thesis project. The two will be in the field until the end of March. The IHACC team wishes them the best of luck, and a successful field experience!
Update from the Field: Sierra and Kate in Uganda
Sierra and Kate are well into their field work in 10 Batwa communities in Kanungu District, southwestern Uganda. They send us a short report of their research activities, and the progress up to date! They also include many pictures documenting their experience. To read the recent report and see the pictures, click here
Update from the Field: Sierra and Kaitlin in Uganda
Sierra Clark and Kaitlin Paterson have arrived in Uganda at the end of May, where they will be spending the summer conducting qualitative research for IHACC. Kaitlin is working on food security issues while Sierra is working on acute gastrointestinal illnesses. You can read their first report here
Three new articles published on African Portal
The following three articles, written by Didacus Bambaiha Namanya, are now available online via Africa Portal:
Malaria Risk Factors Facing Uganda's Batwa Population
Community Health Insurance a Policy Option for Climate Adaptation
Climate Change and Health in Uganda: Batwa People at a Crossroads
Vulnerability of Indigenous Health to Climate Change: A Case Study of Uganda’s Batwa Pygmies.
Berrang-Ford, L. Dingle, K., Ford, J et al. (2012). Social Science & Medicine 75, 1067-1077. Find PDF.
The potential impacts of climate change on human health in sub-Saharan Africa are wide-ranging, complex, and largely adverse. The region's Indigenous peoples are considered to be at heightened risk given their relatively poor health outcomes, marginal social status, and resource-based livelihoods; however, little attention has been given to these most vulnerable of the vulnerable. This paper contributes to addressing this gap by taking a bottom-up approach to assessing health vulnerabilities to climate change in two Batwa Pygmy communities in rural Uganda. Rapid Rural Appraisal and PhotoVoice field methods complemented by qualitative data analysis were used to identify key climate-sensitive, community-identified health outcomes, describe determinants of sensitivity at multiple scales, and characterize adaptive capacity of Batwa health systems. The findings stress the importance of human drivers of vulnerability and adaptive capacity and the need to address social determinants of health in order to reduce the potential disease burden of climate change.