Saving the rainforest through health care: medicine as conservation in Borneo.
This article gives an overview of rainforest conservation as it relates to human health and describes the context, design, and implementation of the Kelay Conservation Health Program (KCHP). The KCHP is a health program for indigenous people living in a critical area of orangutan rainforest habitat in Indonesian Borneo also developed to aid conservation efforts there. Program design included consideration of both health and conservation goals, participatory planning in collaboration with the government health system, a focus on community managed health, capacity building, and adaptive management. After two years the program had, at relatively low cost, already had positive impacts on both human health (e.g., child immunization rates) and conservation (e.g., local forest protection measures, attitudes of villagers and government officials towards the implementing conservation agency).
Ali
Robbie
R
Center for Healthy Environments and Communities (CHEC), University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, A226A Crabtree Hall, 130 DeSoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA. rali@pitt.edu
Jacobs
Sonja M
SM
D000818:Animals; D001893:Borneo; D003153:Community Health Services; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D006801:Humans; D011148:Pongo pygmaeus; D015397:Program Evaluation; D014197:Trees; D014329:Tropical Climate