Abstract:
Ecosystem change can profoundly affect human well-being and health, including through changes in exposure to vector-borne diseases. Deforestation has increased human exposure to mosquito vectors and malaria risk in Africa, but there is little understanding of how socioeconomic and ecological factors influence the relationship between deforestation and malaria risk. We examined these interrelationships in six sub-Saharan African countries using demographic and health survey data linked to remotely sensed environmental variables for 11,746 children under 5 years old. We found that the relationship between deforestation and malaria prevalence varies by wealth levels. Deforestation is associated with increased malaria prevalence in the poorest households, but there was not significantly increased malaria prevalence in the richest households, suggesting that deforestation has disproportionate negative health impacts on the poor. In poorer households, malaria prevalence was 27%-33% larger for one standard deviation increase in deforestation across urban and rural populations. Deforestation is also associated with increased malaria prevalence in regions where Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funestus are dominant vectors, but not in areas of Anopheles arabiensis. These findings indicate that deforestation is an important driver of malaria risk among the world\'s most vulnerable children, and its impact depends critically on often-overlooked social and biological factors. An in-depth understanding of the links between ecosystems and human health is crucial in designing conservation policies that benefit people and the environment.
摘要:
生态系统的变化会深刻影响人类的福祉和健康,包括通过改变媒介传播疾病的暴露。在非洲,森林砍伐增加了人类接触蚊媒和疟疾的风险,但是对于社会经济和生态因素如何影响森林砍伐和疟疾风险之间的关系却知之甚少。我们使用与11,746名5岁以下儿童的遥感环境变量相关的人口和健康调查数据,研究了六个撒哈拉以南非洲国家的这些相互关系。我们发现,森林砍伐和疟疾流行之间的关系因财富水平而异。森林砍伐与最贫困家庭的疟疾患病率增加有关,但是在最富有的家庭中,疟疾的患病率并没有显着增加,这表明森林砍伐对穷人的健康产生了不成比例的负面影响。在贫困家庭中,城市和农村人口的森林砍伐增加了一个标准差,疟疾患病率增加了27%-33%。在冈比亚按蚊和按蚊是主要媒介的地区,森林砍伐也与疟疾患病率增加有关,但阿拉伯按蚊地区没有。这些研究结果表明,在世界最脆弱的儿童中,森林砍伐是疟疾风险的重要驱动因素,其影响在很大程度上取决于经常被忽视的社会和生物因素。深入了解生态系统与人类健康之间的联系对于设计有益于人类和环境的保护政策至关重要。