The Kennet Geog Blog

This article retrospectively examines the factors which caused Guinea Worm Disease (Dracunculiasis) to spread to epidemic levels, so as to serve as the basis for formulating a national preventive agenda to reinforce the preventive measures which have been put in place to prevent the disease from re-emerging. The hybrid conceptual framework of disease diffusion and disease ecology was used. The mixed method research design was used to collect data from a total of 11 administrative districts. Primary data was obtained from a total of 860 respondents. To achieve a representative distribution of respondents, they were proportionately selected with respect to the populations of their respective districts. A key Informant interview was conducted. Download the full article for free  here!

  Perilously situated between rising sea levels and pressures from upstream lie coastal river deltas and their roughly half a billion inhabitants. These regions have played an important role in societal development since the last ice age, offering flat, fertile lands with abundant freshwater which are ideal for agriculture. In recent times, coastal river deltas have become hubs of the global shipping trade, giving rise to fast-growing megacities such as Dhaka, Cairo and Shanghai. But these areas are now  under threat . And not all of the blame can be placed on climate change. Read article 1  here! Read article 2  here!

As the gavel came down on the latest round of climate talks in Dubai, there were declarations of “we united, we acted, we delivered” from the COP28 presidency. This was met by a sense of   déjà vu   among delegates of the Alliance of Small Island States ( Aosis ), an intergovernmental organisation representing the nations most vulnerable to climate change. In her post-summit  statement , Aosis lead negotiator Anne Rasmussen expressed confusion that the  UAE Consensus , COP28’s final agreement, was approved when representatives from small-island developing states (or  Sids  were not in the room. While some delegates hailed the  consensus  as “ beginning of the end ” of the fossil fuel era, Aosis countered that the document contained a “litany of loopholes” which did little to advance the key actions needed to stave off climate breakdown and deliver justice to islands and low-lying states facing the gravest consequences of the climate crisis. Read t...

  The Global Cooling Watch report demonstrates the potential and the pathways to achieve near-zero emissions from cooling. Using a model created specifically for this report, it presents pathways to get to near-zero emissions in the key cooling sectors and provides a call to action for countries to pursue the policies and strategies that have the greatest impact in reducing cooling-related emissions and advancing sustainable cooling for all. Read the full report  here!

Medicinal plants grow naturally around us. Over centuries, cultures around the world have learned how to use plants to fight illness and maintain health. These readily available and culturally important traditional medicines form the basis of an accessible and affordable health-care regime and are an important source of livelihood for indigenous and rural populations. Increasingly, medicinal species that reside in natural areas have received scientific and commercial attention. In the United States, of the top 150 prescription drugs, at least 118 are based on natural sources. A child suffering from leukemia in 1960 faced a 10 percent chance of remission; by 1997, the likelihood of remission had been increased to 95 percent thanks to two drugs derived from a wild plant native to Madagascar. But we still know little about the treasure trove inhabiting our wild places. As of 1995, less than 1 percent of all tropical plant species had been screened for potential pharmaceutical applications...

  Medicinal plants are globally valuable sources of herbal products, and they are disappearing at a high speed. This article reviews global trends, developments and prospects for the strategies and methodologies concerning the conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plant resources to provide a reliable reference for the conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants. We emphasized that both conservation strategies (e.g. in situ and ex situ conservation and cultivation practices) and resource management (e.g. good agricultural practices and sustainable use solutions) should be adequately taken into account for the sustainable use of medicinal plant resources. We recommend that biotechnical approaches (e.g. tissue culture, micropropagation, synthetic seed technology, and molecular marker-based approaches) should be applied to improve yield and modify the potency of medicinal plants. Read the full article  here!

 A report written within the midst of the pandemic that explores the impacts, strategies for mitigation and suppression tactics that were used to drive the worldwide population out of the Coronavirus pandemic. This links directly with spec point 4.6.  Read the full article  here!

  Artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACTs) are now generally accepted as the best treatments for uncomplicated falciparum malaria. They are rapidly and reliably effective. Efficacy is determined by the drug partnering the artemisinin derivative and, for artesunate–mefloquine, artemether–lumefantrine, and dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine, this usually exceeds 95%. Artesunate–sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine and artesunate–amodiaquine are effective in some areas, but in other areas resistance to the partner precludes their use. There is still uncertainty over the safety of artemisinin derivatives in the first trimester of pregnancy, when they should not be used unless there are no effective alternatives. Otherwise, except for occasional hypersensitivity reactions, the artemisinin derivatives are safe and remarkably well tolerated. The adverse effect profiles of the artemisinin-based combination treatments are determined by the partner drug. Most malaria endemic countries have now adopt...

Controlling malaria is one of the top health sector priorities in Ethiopia. The concrete prevention, control, and treatment interventions undertaken in the past two decades have substantially reduced the morbidity and mortality attributable to malaria. Emboldened by these past achievements, Ethiopia envisages to eliminate malaria by 2030. Realizing this ambition, however, needs to further strengthen the financial, technical, and institutional capacities to address the current as well as emerging challenges. It particularly needs to step up measures pertaining to diagnosis, domestic resource mobilization, vector surveillance, and seasonal weather forecasting. Read the full article  here!

Foreword from the Secretary of State This country’s fight against COVID-19 has shown just what we can do when we join forces against a common threat. During the pandemic we used this country’s ingenuity and endeavour to put the virus on the back foot, but now is the time to apply this same spirit and determination to another threat: cancer. It is time to declare a national war on cancer, which is the biggest cause of death from disease in this country. It is a menace that has taken far too many people before their time and caused grief and suffering on a massive scale. As a country, we have made great progress in recent years; in just the last 15 years, one-year survival has increased by more than 10 percentage points, a remarkable achievement. But despite this progress, I am determined that we will go much further. This is essential if we are to complete the job of recovering cancer services following the pandemic and use the impressive advances in diagnosis and treatments to radicall...

 Video's more your thing? The Viking Geo has a wide array of fantastic videos to support your learning, browse through the channels playlists to find the units that fit our course.  The channel can be found  here.

COVID-19 cases have grown rapidly in a growing number of countries, triggering bold policy responses. This document focuses on containment and mitigation measures to flatten the peak of COVID‑19 and thus decrease as much as possible its huge strain on health care systems. The brief explains what containment and mitigation measures are, why there is a need to adopt a package of measures to enhance their overall impact, and then presents evidence on the relative effectiveness of each main measure, drawing from previous episodes of epidemic outbursts, largely to inform on a possible exit strategy once the virus is under control. Access the  Country Policy Tracker  to navigate the global response. Read more of the report  here!

This short paper explores the close links between diseases in human populations and the economic systems that govern the life of their communities.  Read more  here!

  New science shows how air pollution triggers lung cancer, how children are the most vulnerable in Delhi’s smog, and how even small rises in PM 2.5 increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes and dementia.  Read the rest of the article  here!

  Infectious diseases vary by geographic region and population, and they change over time. When moving from one region to another, humans are exposed to a variety of potential pathogens and also serve as part of the global dispersal process.   Microbes picked up at one time and in one place may manifest in disease (and potentially be transmitted) far away in time and place. Because many microbes have the capacity to persist in the human host for months, years or even decades, the relevant time frame for study of geographic exposures becomes a lifetime. Furthermore, microbes also move and change and reach humans via multiple channels. Read more  here.

  When I recall the nation I was born in, my memories of the brief time I spent there are conjured through rose-tinted glasses. I recall lush fields of green rice paddies, ponds decorated with lily pads and frogs, and trees bursting with fruit. Besides myself, Bangladesh is home to 168 million people — yet the nation was only recently born through blood and struggle over 50 years ago. Now, Bangladesh faces great struggle again. The majority of the nation sits on the largest river delta in the world, at the confluence of the mighty Ganges, Jamuna, and Meghna Rivers. These rivers are Bangladesh’s lifeblood; they are the waterways that produce the rich agricultural soil that dubs the nation the “Land of Rivers.” My rose-tinted glasses are gone now. Where there were once rice paddies, there is now just water; where there were once ponds full of life, they are now buried under the currents; and where there was once beautiful agriculture, there is now only erosion and destruction. The La...

This paper identifies groups vulnerable to the effect of flooding on hospital visits due to diarrhoea during and after a flood event in 1998 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The number of observed cases of cholera and non-cholera diarrhoea per week was compared to expected normal numbers during the flood and post-flood periods, obtained as the season-specific average over the two preceding and subsequent years using Poisson generalised linear models. The expected number of diarrhoea cases was estimated in separate models for each category of potential modifying factors: sex, age, socio-economic status and hygiene and sanitation practices. During the flood, the number of cholera and non-cholera diarrhoea cases was almost six and two times higher than expected, respectively. In the post-flood period, the risk of non-cholera diarrhoea was significantly higher for those with lower educational level, living in a household with a nonconcrete roof, drinking tube-well water (vs. tap water), using a dista...

The COVID-19 pandemic has provoked intense public and political debate on the future of cities and urbanisation. Prognoses have ranged from the ‘end of the city’ to reinvigorated visions of green multifunctional neighbourhoods. Urban researchers have identified a set of existing and potential shifts in all kinds of areas: urban imaginaries, material forms, sociotechnical networks, economic activities, social practices, governance arrangements, and spatial configurations.  Our starting point is a concern with how the pandemic has  accelerated  certain processes and agendas and how these operate in relation to circulations that are variously prioritised, catalysed, devalued, neglected and abandoned at different sites across the urban world. At the same time, other processes, priorities and sites have been  decelerated , interred, put on hold, and confined to particular margins. Read the full article  here!