Human Health and Forests A Global Overview of Issues, Practice and Policy

About this book

This book, written for a broad audience, is the first comprehensive introduction to the issues surrounding the health of people living in and around forests, particularly in Asia, South America and Africa.

Part I is a set of synthesis chapters, addressing policy, public health, environmental conservation, and ecological perspectives on health and forests including women and child health, medicinal plants and viral diseases such as Ebola, SARS and Nipah Encephalitis. Part II takes a multi-lens approach to lead the reader to a more concrete and holistic understanding using case studies from around the world that cover issues as important as the links between HIV/AIDS and the forest sector, and between diet and health. Part III looks at the specific challenges to health care delivery in forested areas, including remoteness and the integration of traditional medicine with modern health care. Generous use of boxes with specific examples add layers of depth to the analyses, and the book concludes with a synthesis designed for use by practitioners and policy makers to work with forest dwellers to improve their health and their ecosystems.

This title presents the first comprehensive examination of the vital links between human health and forests, emphasizing on the ground practice and policy measures for professionals.

Contents

Preface; Introduction; Part I: Synthetic Analyses; Human Health and Forests: An Overview; Health, Habitats and Medicinal Plant Use; The Nutritional Role of Forest Plant Foods for Rural Communities; Wood: The Fuel that Warms You Thrice; Forest Women, Health, and Childbearing; The Gender Agenda and Tropical Forest Diseases; Bat-Borne Viral Diseases; Deforestation and Malaria: Revisiting the Human Ecology Perspective; Part II: Thematic and Regional Health Slices; The Subversive Links Between HIV/AIDS and the Forest Sector; Forest Disturbance and Health Risks to the Yanomami; Biodiversity, Environment and Health Among Rainforest Dwellers: An Evolutionary Perspective; Sociocultural Dimensions of Diet and Health in Forest Dwellers' Systems; Part III: Health Care Delivery in Forests; National Public Health Initiatives that Integrate Traditional Medicine; Approaching Conservation through Health; Hidden Suffering on the Island of Siberut, West Sumatra; Conclusions and Ways Forward.

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Biography

Carol J. Pierce Colfer is Principal Scientist in the Governance Division of CIFOR, in Bogor, Indonesia, where her work aims to improve the lives of people living in and near forests. She is co-editor of the Politics of Decentralization (2005).