Protecting public health in tropics a vital tool in keeping disease at bay
NORTH Queensland mous for the variety beautiful ecosystems.
However, these environments pose a unique array of health issues for tropical, rural and remote communities, including diseases and lifestyle health issues.
“The unique challenge about working in the tropics is that you see exotic organisms or incidents of disease that you don’t see anywhere else,” James Cook University environmental health lecis of faits turer David Sellars said. Public health in these areas has already come a long way, thanks in part to a rare outbreak of Japanese encephalitis on Badu Island in the Torres Strait in the mid 1990s.
The virus, which caused multiple deaths, led to what Mr Sellars called “a multiprong health approach that really exemplifies what environmental science can do”.
After eradicating the virus, the government implemented an environmental infrastructure program across the Torres Strait worth close to $140 million, which has markedly increased the living standards of people in those regions.
“Australia is supposed to be a first-world nation, and yet we still had this community of 6000 people facing increased risk from basic living standards and a vaccine-preventable disease,” Mr Sellars said.
“These developments improved water drainage, sewage treatment, and provided vaccination against Japanese encephalitis. There were many, many projects that have increased the standard of living for people.”
A more recent example is the waterborne bacterium called melioidosis, which became a public health issue in Townsville after the February 2019 floods.
Health authorities advised that people who had compromised immunity and were more susceptible to the bacteria should stay away from the clean-up effort until the soil had dried out.
However, public strategies like this taken for granted. health can be
Known or expected incidences of disease are managed by complex health systems that are in operation 24/7. These systems are costly to run, and need to be maintained constantly by health professionals.
“Living in a first-world nation, we tend to take a lot of that for granted,” Mr Sellars said.
While some public health issues are one-off incidences, others are ongoing. The best way to prepare for public health outbreaks is to maintain a healthy way of life.