They Set Out to Save Rainforests — And Could Help Prevent the Next Outbreak
- Author: Caroline Chen
- Full Title: They Set Out to Save Rainforests — And Could Help Prevent the Next Outbreak
- Category: articles
- Document Tags: #planet
- URL: https://www.propublica.org/article/pandemic-spillover-madagascar-health-in-harmony
Highlights
- “What do you need from the world as a thank you to continue to protect this precious rainforest that the health of our planet depends on?” The answers across 31 villages were consistent: health care, job alternatives and help growing food for their families. (View Highlight)
- Researchers have shown that deforestation can drive outbreaks by bringing people closer to wildlife, which can shed dangerous viruses. (View Highlight)
- Health In Harmony analyzed 10 years of patient records along with satellite images of the forest there, comparing 73 villages that signed its agreement to places that hadn’t. They estimated that the project averted 10.6 square miles of deforestation and achieved significant declines in malaria, tuberculosis, neglected tropical illnesses and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, even while the rates for some of these conditions increased in the surrounding region. (View Highlight)
- His observations are used to grade the village three times a year. There’s a strong incentive not to break the rules: Fewer infringements earn villagers a deeper discount on testing, prenatal care and other health care services that the nonprofit provides. (View Highlight)
- “I have learned that the forest, humans and animals are interdependent,” Jocelyn said, “and if the forest is sick, then the animals will be sick, and animals will surely impact humans’ health too.” (View Highlight)
- Health In Harmony is now planning a project to measure its ability to restore biodiversity, improve the health of people and wildlife and reduce the risk of spillover in Madagascar. Partnering with Zoo New England, Centre ValBio and researchers at four universities, Health In Harmony plans to document the diversity of regional wildlife; test rodents, bats, tenrecs and lemurs for pathogens; and track human diseases affected by the environment. (View Highlight)