Unhealthy landscapes: Policy recommendations on land use change and infectious disease emergence

Patz, J. A., Daszak, P., Tabor, G. M., Aguirre, A. A., Pearl, M., Epstein, J., Wolfe, N. D., Kilpatrick, A. M., Foufopoulos, J., Molyneux, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8537-7947 and Bradley, D. J. (2004) 'Unhealthy landscapes: Policy recommendations on land use change and infectious disease emergence'. Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol 112, Issue 10, pp. 1092-1098.

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Abstract

Anthropogenic land use changes drive a range of infectious disease outbreaks and emergence events and modify the transmission of endemic infections. These drivers include agricultural encroachment, deforestation, road construction, dam building, irrigation, wetland modification, mining, the concentration or expansion of urban environments, coastal zone degradation, and other activities. These changes in turn cause a cascade of factors that exacerbate infectious disease emergence, such as forest fragmentation, disease introduction, pollution, poverty, and human migration. The Working Group on Land Use Change and Disease Emergence grew out of a special colloquium that convened international experts in infectious diseases, ecology, and environmental health to assess the current state of knowledge and to develop recommendations for addressing these environmental health challenges. The group established a systems model approach and priority lists of infectious diseases affected by ecologic degradation. Policy relevant levels of the model include specific health risk factors, landscape or habitat change, and institutional (economic and behavioral) levels. The group recommended creating Centers of ExceHence in Ecology and Health Research and Training, based at regional universities and/or research institutes with close links to the surrounding communities. The centers' objectives would be 3-fold: a) to provide information to local communities about the links between environmental change and public health; b) to facilitate fully interdisciplinary research from a variety of natural, social, and health sciences and train professionals who can conduct interdisciplinary research; and c) to engage in science-based communication and assessment for policy making toward sustainable health and ecosystems.

Item Type:	Article
Corporate Authors:	Working Group on Land Use Change, Disease Emergence.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	risk-factors environmental-change global climate lyme-disease human health nipah virus nile delta malaria transmission biodiversity
Subjects:	WA Public Health > Preventive Medicine > WA 110 Prevention and control of communicable diseases. Transmission of infectious diseases WA Public Health > WA 30 Socioeconomic factors in public health (General) WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 395 Health in developing countries WA Public Health > Health Administration and Organization > WA 525 General works WD Disorders of Systemic, Metabolic or Environmental Origin, etc > Disorders and Injuries of Environmental Origin > WD 600 General works
Faculty: Department:	Groups (2002 - 2012) > Disease Control Strategy Group
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.6877
Depositing User:	Martin Chapman
Date Deposited:	17 Jan 2012 17:23
Last Modified:	06 Feb 2018 13:03
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/2148

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