IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v11y2014i12p12997-13016d43463.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changing Patterns of Health in Communities Impacted by a Bioenergy Project in Northern Sierra Leone

Author

Listed:
  • Astrid M. Knoblauch

    (Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland
    University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland)

  • Mary H. Hodges

    (Helen Keller International Sierra Leone, P.O. Box, Freetown, Sierra Leone)

  • Mohamed S. Bah

    (Helen Keller International Sierra Leone, P.O. Box, Freetown, Sierra Leone)

  • Habib I. Kamara

    (Helen Keller International Sierra Leone, P.O. Box, Freetown, Sierra Leone)

  • Anita Kargbo

    (Helen Keller International Sierra Leone, P.O. Box, Freetown, Sierra Leone)

  • Jusufu Paye

    (Helen Keller International Sierra Leone, P.O. Box, Freetown, Sierra Leone)

  • Hamid Turay

    (Helen Keller International Sierra Leone, P.O. Box, Freetown, Sierra Leone)

  • Emmanuel D. Nyorkor

    (Helen Keller International Sierra Leone, P.O. Box, Freetown, Sierra Leone)

  • Mark J. Divall

    (SHAPE Consulting Ltd., Pretoria 0062, South Africa)

  • Yaobi Zhang

    (Helen Keller International, Regional Office for Africa, P.O. Box, Dakar, Senegal)

  • Jürg Utzinger

    (Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland
    University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland)

  • Mirko S. Winkler

    (Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland
    University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland)

Abstract

Large private sector investments in low- and middle-income countries are often critically evaluated with regards to their environmental, social, human rights, and health impacts. A health impact assessment, including a baseline health survey, was commissioned by the Addax Bioenergy Sierra Leone project in 2010. As part of the monitoring, a follow-up survey was conducted three years later. A set of health indicators was assessed at six impacted and two control sites. Most of these indices improved, particularly at the impacted sites. The prevalences of stunting, wasting, and Plasmodium falciparum in children under five years of age decreased significantly at impacted sites (all p < 0.05) and non-significantly at control sites. Anemia in children and in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) decreased significantly at impacted and control sites ( p < 0.05 and p < 0.001, respectively). Health facility-based deliveries increased significantly at the impacted sites ( p < 0.05). The prevalences of helminth infections in children aged 10–15 years remained approximately at the same levels, although focal increases at the impacted sites were noted. Access to improved sanitation decreased significantly ( p < 0.05) at control and non-significantly at impacted sites. Water quality remained poor without significant changes. The epidemiologic monitoring of a bioenergy project provides a useful contribution for evidence-based decision-making.

Suggested Citation

  • Astrid M. Knoblauch & Mary H. Hodges & Mohamed S. Bah & Habib I. Kamara & Anita Kargbo & Jusufu Paye & Hamid Turay & Emmanuel D. Nyorkor & Mark J. Divall & Yaobi Zhang & Jürg Utzinger & Mirko S. Winkl, 2014. "Changing Patterns of Health in Communities Impacted by a Bioenergy Project in Northern Sierra Leone," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-20, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:12:p:12997-13016:d:43463
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/12/12997/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/12/12997/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefan Dercon & Daniel O. Gilligan & John Hoddinott & Tassew Woldehanna, 2009. "The Impact of Agricultural Extension and Roads on Poverty and Consumption Growth in Fifteen Ethiopian Villages," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1007-1021.
    2. John H Amuasi & Graciela Diap & Samuel Blay Nguah & Patrick Karikari & Isaac Boakye & Amara Jambai & Wani Kumba Lahai & Karly S Louie & Jean-Rene Kiechel, 2012. "Access to Artemisinin-Combination Therapy (ACT) and other Anti-Malarials: National Policy and Markets in Sierra Leone," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(10), pages 1-9, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jeffery Spickett & Dianne Katscherian & Helen Brown & Krassi Rumchev, 2015. "Health Impact Assessment: Improving Its Effectiveness in the Enhancement of Health and Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-6, April.
    2. Meelan Thondoo & Daniel H. De Vries & David Rojas-Rueda & Yashila D. Ramkalam & Ersilia Verlinghieri & Joyeeta Gupta & Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen, 2020. "Framework for Participatory Quantitative Health Impact Assessment in Low- and Middle-Income Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-20, October.
    3. Dominik Dietler & Ruth Lewinski & Sophie Azevedo & Rebecca Engebretsen & Fritz Brugger & Jürg Utzinger & Mirko S. Winkler, 2020. "Inclusion of Health in Impact Assessment: A Review of Current Practice in Sub-Saharan Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-20, June.
    4. Astrid M. Knoblauch & Mark J. Divall & Milka Owuor & Colleen Archer & Kennedy Nduna & Harrison Ng’uni & Gertrude Musunka & Anna Pascall & Jürg Utzinger & Mirko S. Winkler, 2017. "Monitoring of Selected Health Indicators in Children Living in a Copper Mine Development Area in Northwestern Zambia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-17, March.
    5. Ajide, Kazeem Bello & Ibrahim, Ridwan Lanre & Mohammed, Abubakar & Saleh Al-Faryan, Mamdouh Abdulaziz, 2023. "Infectious diseases and health outcomes’ implications of natural resource curse in Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael A. Clemens, 2017. "The Meaning Of Failed Replications: A Review And Proposal," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 326-342, February.
    2. María Priscila Ramos & Estefanía Custodio & Sofía Jiménez & Alfredo J. Mainar-Causapé & Pierre Boulanger & Emanuele Ferrari, 2022. "Do agri-food market incentives improve food security and nutrition indicators? a microsimulation evaluation for Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(1), pages 209-227, February.
    3. Sardorbek Musayev & Jonathan Mellor & Tara Walsh & Emmanouil Anagnostou, 2021. "Development of an Agent-Based Model for Weather Forecast Information Exchange in Rural Area of Bahir Dar, Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-21, April.
    4. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn & Tirivayi, Nyasha, 2020. "Crop diversity, household welfare and consumption smoothing under risk: Evidence from rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    5. Derek Headey & David Stifel & Liangzhi You & Zhe Guo, 2018. "Remoteness, urbanization, and child nutrition in sub‐Saharan Africa," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(6), pages 765-775, November.
    6. George W. Norton & Jeffrey Alwang, 2020. "Changes in Agricultural Extension and Implications for Farmer Adoption of New Practices," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(1), pages 8-20, March.
    7. Torres Franco, Nicolás Arturo & Dávalos, Eleonora & Morales, Leonardo Fabio, 2021. "Heterogeneous Effects of Agricultural Technical Assistance in Colombia," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(4), pages 459-481, November.
    8. Iimi,Atsushi, 2022. "Estimating the Impacts of Transport Corridor Development in Kazakhstan : Applicationof Dynamic Panel Data Models to Firm Registry Data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10196, The World Bank.
    9. Cohen, Marc J. & Lemma, Mamusha, 2011. "Agricultural extension services and gender equality: An institutional analysis of four districts in Ethiopia," ESSP working papers 28, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. Dillon, Andrew & Sharma, Manohar & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2011. "Estimating the impact of rural investments in Nepal," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 250-258, April.
    11. Asian Development Bank Institute, 2017. "Myanmar Transport Sector Policy Note: Rural Roads and Access," Working Papers id:11782, eSocialSciences.
    12. Dorosh, Paul A. & Schmidt, Emily, 2010. "The rural-urban transformation in Ethiopia," ESSP working papers 13, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    13. Musa Hasen Ahmed & Kassahun Mamo Geleta & Aemro Tazeze & Hiwot Mekonnen Mesfin & Eden Andualem Tilahun, 2017. "Cropping systems diversification, improved seed, manure and inorganic fertilizer adoption by maize producers of eastern Ethiopia," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 6(1), pages 1-16, December.
    14. G.T. Abate & Tanguy Bernard & Simrin Makhija & David J. Spielman, 2019. "Accelerating technical change through video-mediated agricultural extension: Evidence from Ethiopia," Working Papers hal-02879823, HAL.
    15. Monica Beuran & Marie Gachassin & Gaël Raballand, 2015. "Are There Myths on Road Impact and Transport in Sub-Saharan Africa?," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 33(5), pages 673-700, September.
    16. Yanyan Gao & Xinping Wang, 2023. "Chinese agriculture in the age of high‐speed rail: Effects on agricultural value added and food output," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 387-405, March.
    17. Josephson, Anna Leigh & Michler, Jeffrey D., 2015. "To Specialize or Diversify: Agricultural Diversity and Poverty Persistence in Ethiopia," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212459, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Martin Wiegand & Eric Koomen & Menno Pradhan & Christopher Edmonds, 2023. "The Impact of Road Development on Household Welfare in Rural Papua New Guinea," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(6), pages 933-953, June.
    19. Krishnan, Pramila & Gunning, Jan Willem & Mengistu, Andualem Telaye, 2018. "Fading Choice: Transport Costs and Variety in Consumer Goods," CEPR Discussion Papers 12910, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. Kansiime, Monica K. & Alawy, Abdillahi & Allen, Catherine & Subharwal, Manish & Jadhav, Arun & Parr, Martin, 2019. "Effectiveness of mobile agri-advisory service extension model: Evidence from Direct2Farm program in India," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 25-33.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:12:p:12997-13016:d:43463. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.