Health Impact Assessments for Environmental Restoration: The Case of Caño Martín Peña

Background: Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a methodology for predicting the effects of a proposed policy or plan on health. A proposed environmental restoration and development plan presented an opportunity for an HIA in an environmental justice community surrounding the Martín Peña channel in Sa...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Perry Sheffield, Meghan Rowe, Damiris Agu, Lyvia Rodríguez, Katia Avilés
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Ubiquity Press 2014
Materias:	ecosystem restoration environmental justice Puerto Rico vulnerable populations Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/e009afc74ae94fc6a3034b53ee723d6f
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:e009afc74ae94fc6a3034b53ee723d6f
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:e009afc74ae94fc6a3034b53ee723d6f2021-12-02T04:24:26ZHealth Impact Assessments for Environmental Restoration: The Case of Caño Martín Peña2214-999610.1016/j.aogh.2014.07.001https://doaj.org/article/e009afc74ae94fc6a3034b53ee723d6f2014-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/2060https://doaj.org/toc/2214-9996Background: Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a methodology for predicting the effects of a proposed policy or plan on health. A proposed environmental restoration and development plan presented an opportunity for an HIA in an environmental justice community surrounding the Martín Peña channel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The HIA focused on the dredging of the channel, debris removal, road, sewer, and storm water infrastructure improvements, housing demolition, and resident relocation. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the potential effects of the proposed plan on the community's health to inform the funding decision by the Puerto Rican legislature. As the first HIA in Puerto Rico, a secondary objective was to build HIA capacity in Puerto Rico. Methods: This HIA used community training, literature reviews, existing local studies, focus groups, interviews, and <a title="Learn more about Disease Surveillance" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/disease-surveillance">disease surveillance</a> data to assess baseline health, determine expected effects, and build capacity. Findings: The Martín Peña community is experiencing deteriorating environmental conditions. Flooding and negative environmental exposures, such as mold, limits to physical activity, stress, chemical toxicants, pathogenic bacteria, and pests, are worsening. The higher rates of diseases, such as asthma and diarrhea, in the community compared with elsewhere in Puerto Rico appear to be largely attributable to these factors. Overall, the proposed plan is expected to improve many of these health disparities but the successful implementation depends on continued community acceptance and participation, particularly with the relocation process. Recommendations are for full financing and several mitigation efforts to avoid negative and preserve beneficial health consequences. Conclusions: As the first HIA in Puerto Rico, this assessment provided specific recommendations to benefit the health of the community affected by an environmental restoration and development plan and also capacity building for a larger audience in Puerto Rico. This approach could be generalized to other Latino environmental justice communities in Puerto Rico and abroad.Perry SheffieldMeghan RoweDamiris AguLyvia RodríguezKatia AvilésUbiquity Pressarticleecosystem restorationenvironmental justicePuerto Ricovulnerable populationsInfectious and parasitic diseasesRC109-216Public aspects of medicineRA1-1270ENAnnals of Global Health, Vol 80, Iss 4, Pp 296-302 (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	ecosystem restoration environmental justice Puerto Rico vulnerable populations Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
spellingShingle	ecosystem restoration environmental justice Puerto Rico vulnerable populations Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Perry Sheffield Meghan Rowe Damiris Agu Lyvia Rodríguez Katia Avilés Health Impact Assessments for Environmental Restoration: The Case of Caño Martín Peña
description	Background: Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a methodology for predicting the effects of a proposed policy or plan on health. A proposed environmental restoration and development plan presented an opportunity for an HIA in an environmental justice community surrounding the Martín Peña channel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The HIA focused on the dredging of the channel, debris removal, road, sewer, and storm water infrastructure improvements, housing demolition, and resident relocation. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the potential effects of the proposed plan on the community's health to inform the funding decision by the Puerto Rican legislature. As the first HIA in Puerto Rico, a secondary objective was to build HIA capacity in Puerto Rico. Methods: This HIA used community training, literature reviews, existing local studies, focus groups, interviews, and <a title="Learn more about Disease Surveillance" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/disease-surveillance">disease surveillance</a> data to assess baseline health, determine expected effects, and build capacity. Findings: The Martín Peña community is experiencing deteriorating environmental conditions. Flooding and negative environmental exposures, such as mold, limits to physical activity, stress, chemical toxicants, pathogenic bacteria, and pests, are worsening. The higher rates of diseases, such as asthma and diarrhea, in the community compared with elsewhere in Puerto Rico appear to be largely attributable to these factors. Overall, the proposed plan is expected to improve many of these health disparities but the successful implementation depends on continued community acceptance and participation, particularly with the relocation process. Recommendations are for full financing and several mitigation efforts to avoid negative and preserve beneficial health consequences. Conclusions: As the first HIA in Puerto Rico, this assessment provided specific recommendations to benefit the health of the community affected by an environmental restoration and development plan and also capacity building for a larger audience in Puerto Rico. This approach could be generalized to other Latino environmental justice communities in Puerto Rico and abroad.
format	article
author	Perry Sheffield Meghan Rowe Damiris Agu Lyvia Rodríguez Katia Avilés
author_facet	Perry Sheffield Meghan Rowe Damiris Agu Lyvia Rodríguez Katia Avilés
author_sort	Perry Sheffield
title	Health Impact Assessments for Environmental Restoration: The Case of Caño Martín Peña
title_short	Health Impact Assessments for Environmental Restoration: The Case of Caño Martín Peña
title_full	Health Impact Assessments for Environmental Restoration: The Case of Caño Martín Peña
title_fullStr	Health Impact Assessments for Environmental Restoration: The Case of Caño Martín Peña
title_full_unstemmed	Health Impact Assessments for Environmental Restoration: The Case of Caño Martín Peña
title_sort	health impact assessments for environmental restoration: the case of caño martín peña
publisher	Ubiquity Press
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/e009afc74ae94fc6a3034b53ee723d6f
work_keys_str_mv	AT perrysheffield healthimpactassessmentsforenvironmentalrestorationthecaseofcanomartinpena AT meghanrowe healthimpactassessmentsforenvironmentalrestorationthecaseofcanomartinpena AT damirisagu healthimpactassessmentsforenvironmentalrestorationthecaseofcanomartinpena AT lyviarodriguez healthimpactassessmentsforenvironmentalrestorationthecaseofcanomartinpena AT katiaaviles healthimpactassessmentsforenvironmentalrestorationthecaseofcanomartinpena
_version_	1718401279355518976

Health Impact Assessments for Environmental Restoration: The Case of Caño Martín Peña

Ejemplares similares