Ecosystems and Human Health

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Healthier environments, improved human health

Long-standing environmental hazards. New and unprecedented environmental changes. Rapid economic growth. Changing societies. All are affecting the health and livelihoods of poor people around the world.

Often, these populations live in degraded ecosystems that are harmful to their health, but they have few resources to improve their circumstances. They face malnutrition, environmental pollution, and new and old infectious diseases.

Since 1996 IDRC has supported research on ways to improve the health of people and ecosystems in the developing regions of the world. This work has helped establish the field of ecosystem approaches to human health (ecohealth)

Learn more about the Ecohealth Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Initiative (Eco EID), a partnership between IDRC, Canadian International Development Agency, and the Australian Agency for International Development. Eco EID aims to improve knowledge and capacities to prevent and control new and re-emerging infectious diseases in South East Asia and China.

Featured Publication

Climate change impacts health in Tunisia

Research is showing that climate change is having major impacts on human health. Weather-related disasters are on the rise and water- and vector-borne diseases are spreading. Strategies to adapt to the effects of climate change may also pose...

News

2012 Ecohealth Summer Course

09/03/2012

Registration for the 5th annual graduate short course in ecosystem approaches to health (ecohealth) is now open. From June 16 to 27, the Université de Moncton, in conjunction with the University of Northern British Columbia, will welcome Canadian...

The many faces of ecohealth at the University of Guelph

05/10/2011

We cannot have good health without a healthy environment. But a lot of the things we do to live better lives can damage the environment. Ecosystem approaches have helped explore diverse health challenges around the world. Over the years...

Events

Ecohealth researchers to build a library of training materials

19/10/2011

Thirty researchers from the four corners of Canada and the world are coming to Montreal to further build the field of ecohealth. They represent diverse disciplines including philosophy, sociology, ecology, and animal and human health. From November...

Highlight: Third meeting on dengue and Chagas disease prevention

31/08/2011

Researchers from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Uruguay met in Mérida, Mexico at the end of August 2011 to continue their exchange on the eco-bio-social approach to disease prevention. This broad approach focuses on...

Ecohealth Works: Infectious Diseases

Latest Project

Prediction and Prevention of Emerging Zoonotic Diseases in Wildlife

The emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases affecting Brazil today result from complex interactions between natural and human systems. Zoonotic diseases such as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, rabie

ECOHEALTH RESEARCH
IN PRACTICE
Innovative Applications of an Ecosystem Approach to Health

Dominique F. Charron

Latest Results

Growing nutritious food for better health in Malawi

Since 2001, the IDRC-funded Soils, Food and Healthy Communities project has helped combat malnutrition and improve the health of poor families in rural northern Malawi. Growing a wide variety of nutritious food crops has led to stronger children...

Latest Results

Agriculture for better health

Reshaping Agriculture for Nutrition and Health is a new resource for those who think that linking agriculture, nutrition, and health can maximize agricultural benefits for the poor and hungry. Published by the International Food Policy Research...

Latest Results

Protecting potato growers from pesticides in Ecuador

Potatoes have played an integral role in Andean agriculture for thousands of years. Since 1998, IDRC has supported research in Ecuador on the health impacts of pesticide use on potato farmers and their families. Researchers worked with farmers...

Latest Results

Managing waste and water in Cameroon

Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, is the home of almost 2 million people. Many of the poorest live in unplanned and under-serviced slums. An IDRC-supported project used an ecohealth approach to development in 12 neighbourhoods struggling with...

Latest Results

Health: reviving traditional foods in rural Lebanese schools

Changing eating habits in rural Lebanese schools In recent years, the traditional Lebanese diet has been fading in favour of processed food choices that are often high in fat, sugar, and sodium. At the same time, deteriorating rural ecosystems...

IDRC funds researchers in the developing world so they can build healthier, more prosperous societies

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