title: The urgent need for health impact assessment: proposing a transdisciplinary approach to the e-waste crisis in sub-Saharan Africa.
abstract: Electronic waste (e-waste) is a growing health and environmental concern in developing countries. In the sub-Saharan African region e-waste is considered a crisis with no end in sight yet; there is lack of structures and regulations to manage the problem. In this article, we discuss the potential of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in addressing the health, environmental, and social impacts of e-waste in sub-Saharan Africa. We draw from environmental policy, environmental communication, global health policy, and health communication to argue that managing e-waste could be framed as ongoing HIA where all the steps of HIA are performed on a rolling basis with input from local communities. Further, we suggest that HIA should be infused into recycling legislation to help streamline the practice in order to make it safe for health and the environment and to maximize the economic benefits.
authors.affiliation: 1 Arkansas State University - Department of Communication, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA.
authors.forename: Dinah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tetteh
authors.affiliation: 2 Bowling Green State University - School of Media and Communication, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lengel
mesh_terms: D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D003906:Developing Countries; D059029:Electronic Waste; D014943:Global Health; D062489:Health Impact Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D012922:Social Change; D064091:Waste Disposal Facilities
keywords: Africa; environmental health; global health; globalization; health impact assessment; health promotion; pollution