Truhealth » ENVIRONMENT

Liberia: 720 Villages, Towns in Liberia to Be Open Defecation Free

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 15:12:42 +0000

Global Communities, a non-governmental organization, predicts that 720 villages and towns are likely to be declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) after five years of networking with its project “Partnership for Advancing Community-Based Projects (PACS).” Global Communities currently operates in Nimba, Bong and Lofa counties and indicated that villages and towns with the guidance of the PACS program should have access to latrines, safe drinking water, community cemetery and identified garbage sites. The NGO’s County Manager in Nimba, Sheik A. Chroman, says hygienic communities sensitive to sanitary activities are difficult to catch diseases that spread as a results of pollutions and unsafe water sources. The program is implemented in five statutory districts in Nimba, including Yarwain Mehnslonn, Zoe Geh, Gbehlay Geh, Saclepea, and Sanniquellie Mah Statutory Districts. Villages and towns selected in the country for the first year projects would benefit from 90 hand pumps along with training in Water And Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) to achieve Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in Liberia, especially the distant leeward regions. He maintained that those...

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Toxicologists raise alarm over pollutants in N-Delta communities

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 14:57:38 +0000

TOXICOLOGISTS have advised residents of oil-bearing communities in the Niger-Delta to live with caution to ward off strange deaths and sicknesses caused by dangerous toxins deposited in their environment by oil companies in the course of oil exploration activities. Some of the toxicologists, who spoke to Niger-Delta Voice at the 4th International Conference of the West African Society of Toxicology, said many Niger Delta communities were prone to unsafe toxins. Toxicologist and a senior lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, Prof Roseline Konya, said Ogoni communities were very susceptible to the precarious toxins. Konya, a former Commissioner in Rivers state, said, “There are several toxins that come from oil exploration activities that devastate the environment. “The chemicals inappropriately disposed into the environment have an irreversible effect and Ogoni communities are disposed to this. “There is lack of sound chemical management in Rivers state, especially Ogoniland. Oil management is taken for granted. As oil creates jobs, so also it has caused pollution by throwing toxic material into the environment.” “The...

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‘6000 die daily in work-related accidents’

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 14:55:00 +0000

Six thousand workers die daily from work-related accidents and diseases, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said. Addressing reporters at the World Health and Safety Day, factional President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, said statistics from ILO showed that ‘one worker dies every 15 seconds worldwide, 6,000 die daily and more than two million die annually from work-related accidents and diseases’. “From the ILO statistics, more people die at work than at wars and even natural disasters. “Beyond job-related deaths each year, there are some 268 million non-fatal workplace accidents as well as 160 million new cases of work-related illnesses. “The ILO estimates that occupational accidents and diseases result in annual four per cent loss in global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or about $2.8 trillion in direct and indirect cost of injuries and diseases. “There are several cases of body injuries, some reported to the union and several others happening in non-unionised workplaces, with little support and compensation for affected workers. The memories of workers consumed...

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State Department identifies two American mountain climbers killed in Nepal earthquake, as death toll soars past 4,000

admin — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 10:09:50 +0000

Two of the four American mountain climbers killed by the devastating Nepalese earthquake were identified Monday by the State Department. Thomas Ely Taplin and Vinh Truong were at a Mt. Everest base camp when they died, spokesman Jeff Rathke said. Taplin, 61, was a filmmaker from Colorado who was making a documentary about the base camp, his wife told Newsweek. The other two victims were identified earlier as Marisa Eve Girawong, a medic who worked for Seattle-based guide service Madison Mountaineering, and Dan Fredinburg, a Google executive. Meanwhile, the grim work of recovering the dead continued as the death toll soared past 4,000 and Nepalese officials begged the world for help. “We are appealing for tents, dry goods, blankets, mattresses and 80 different medicines … that we desperately need now,” said Lila Mani Poudyal, the government’s chief secretary and the rescue coordinator. “We don’t have the helicopters that we need or the expertise to rescue the people trapped.” The massive 7.8-magnitude temblor devastated the small but mountainous nation wedged between...

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East African Environmental Activist Wins Major Prize

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2015 13:59:58 +0000

On Earth Day, Apr. 22, Kenyan activist Phyllis Omido takes the stage in Washington DC to receive the Goldman Environmental Prize for her efforts to defend her community from lead poisoning and force the closure of a lead smelting plant that was emitting fumes and spewing untreated acid wastewater into streams, poisoning the neighbourhood – including her own baby. “At first we thought he had malaria or typhoid, but doctors found he was suffering from lead poisoning,” Omido recalled. The lead was traced to a smelter where Phyllis had recently started work as a community liaison officer. “The doctors said the lead reached my baby through my breast milk,” Phyllis said in London last week as she made the trip to the U.S. to receive the Africa award of the prestigious Goldman prize. The smelter – built in the heart of Owino Uhuru, a densely-packed slum in Mombasa, Kenya’s second city – extracted lead from used car batteries. Lead is a potent neurotoxin. It damages the development of children, targeting...

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Water: key to a healthy life

admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 16:35:05 +0000

-By Loretta Okonkwo Adequate supply of water is central to life and civilization. The five basic human needs namely air, water, food, lig ht, and heat. Water is common factor to other four. It is therefore not an understatement to say water is life, because it forms an appreciable proportion of all living things including man. In fact, water is very critical to human life, a major key to survival. Without water, humans can survive only for days.This is because water plays a key for every single cell and organ system in the human body to function in a proper manner.Water constitutes about 80% of animal cells. The human body by weight consists of about 70% water and several body functions depend on water. Water comprises from 75% body weight in infants to 55% in elderly and is essential for cellular homeostasis and life. Water makes up greater than two third (2/3)of human body weight as brain is made of 75% water, blood is made of 83% water, bones are...

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Movement Restriction On Sanitation Days in Lagos to Continue, Court Rules

admin — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 14:49:53 +0000

A Federal High Court in Lagos, Friday, granted a stay of execution on its earlier ruling barring restriction of movement during environmental sanitation days in the state. Justice Mohammed Idris said the exercise would continue pending the determination of a suit challenging the ruling at the Court of Appeal. In March, the judge had ruled that the restriction of movement during the sanitation exercise, which takes place every last Saturday of the month, was unlawful and a violation of the citizens’s right to liberty and freedom. According to the judge, the restriction of movement on those days violated Sections 35 and 41 of the Constitution which guaranteed personal liberty and right to movement. Mr. Mohammed voided the power of the state government and its agents to arrest any citizen found moving between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. on those days. After the ruling, the Lagos State government had filed an appeal challenging the judge’s decision and the jurisdiction of his court. Ade Ipaye, the Lagos State Attorney-General, noted that the...

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Nepal bans polythene use in Kathmandu

admin — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 10:47:28 +0000

The government representatives and the stakeholders present on the occasion expressed commitment not to use polythene bags from now onwards. Nepal on Tuesday declared capital Kathmandu a polythene-free zone as the country observed its official New Year. The capital was declared a ‘polythene bags-free area’ at an assembly organised by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment here. The government representatives and the stakeholders present on the occasion expressed commitment not to use polythene bags from now on wards as it was harmful to human health and a major pollutant. Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Prime Minister Prakash Man Singh said the government has banned the production and use of polythene bags in Kathmandu Valley for the time being and would follow suit in places outside the Valley after some time. Singh said it was the right of all citizens to live in a clean and healthy environment. Production, transport and use of plastic bags of up to 35 by 20 inches and 40 microns has been banned within the Kathmandu valley,...

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