IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i18p6757-d414603.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Health Impact Assessment of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Area in Myanmar, Mandalay Region: Preliminary Research

Author

Listed:
  • Win Thiri Kyaw

    (Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, 457-4 Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto 603-8047, Japan)

  • Xiaoxu Kuang

    (Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, 457-4 Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto 603-8047, Japan)

  • Masayuki Sakakibara

    (Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, 457-4 Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto 603-8047, Japan
    Graduate School of Science & Engineering, Ehime University, 2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture 790-8577, Japan
    Faculty of Collaborative Regional Innovation, Ehime University, 3 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture 790-8577, Japan)

Abstract

Increasing artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in developing countries has raised health concerns in mining communities. A preliminary health survey was conducted in Thabeikkyin Township, Mandalay Region, Myanmar, in February 2020 to assess the health conditions of an ASGM community. Respiratory function and other clinical assessments were evaluated in miners and non-miners, and participants’ hair was analyzed for heavy metals. Respiratory function of miners was similar to that of non-miners. However, miners’ respiratory function declined with longer mining activity duration. In total, 3 out of 18 miners showed neurological signs and symptoms of chronic mercury intoxication. The median concentration of the hair mercury was significantly higher in miners than non-miners ( P = 0.01), and 9 out of 18 miners and 2 out of 11 non-miners showed the warning level of mercury. We found that, despite an association between declining respiratory function and length of time mining, only a minority of miners showed clinical features of chronic mercury intoxication. Further clinical surveys with a larger sample size are necessary to determine the broader health status of this community. In addition, clinical indicators such as pulmonary function tests are recommended as additional criteria for the diagnosis of mercury intoxication.

Suggested Citation

  • Win Thiri Kyaw & Xiaoxu Kuang & Masayuki Sakakibara, 2020. "Health Impact Assessment of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Area in Myanmar, Mandalay Region: Preliminary Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-12, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6757-:d:414603
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6757/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6757/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Win Thiri Kyaw & Masayuki Sakakibara, 2022. "Transdisciplinary Communities of Practice to Resolve Health Problems in Southeast Asian Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Communities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-17, April.
    2. José Luis Rivera-Parra & Bernardo Beate & Ximena Diaz & María Belén Ochoa, 2021. "Artisanal and Small Gold Mining and Petroleum Production as Potential Sources of Heavy Metal Contamination in Ecuador: A Call to Action," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Win Thiri Kyaw & Yee Mon Myint & Xiaoxu Kuang & Masayuki Sakakibara, 2021. "Transdisciplinary Online Health Assessment of an Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Community during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-9, October.
    4. Pyae Sone Soe & Win Thiri Kyaw & Koji Arizono & Yasuhiro Ishibashi & Tetsuro Agusa, 2022. "Mercury Pollution from Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Myanmar and Other Southeast Asian Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-21, May.

    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:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6757-:d:414603. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.