Vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters including tsunamis and cyclones is among a range of emerging issues challenging the health and wealth of the world’s small island developing states.
Other issues include pollution and discharge by ships in the Caribbean, over-fishing in the Pacific and the rising tide of household and other forms of waste on the Atlantic and Indian Ocean islands.
Some small islands, such as the Comoros in the Indian Ocean, are also facing serious freshwater shortages partly as a result of contamination and over exploitation.
Unique animal and plant species are also under threat from habitat clearance and the introduction of alien, invasive species from other parts of the world. Dominica and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean are small islands with high levels of potentially damaging ‘invaders’.
These are among the findings from reports released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The reports were written before the devastating tsunami, which hit coastal areas and small islands in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004.
The reports make it clear that, in terms of vulnerability, SIDS represent a special category of countries.
This vulnerability is as a result of their often remote locations, small and fragile economies based on tourism and a small number of exports, heavy dependence on fossil fuel imports and limited availability of natural resources including land and water.
In addition, many of these islands are low lying making them vulnerable to rising sea levels, storm surges and dramatic weather events like the Indian Ocean tsunami. Climate change, with its anticipated increase in extreme weather events and rising sea levels, is set to aggravate the problem.
The case of Grenada in the Caribbean highlights the threat. In September 2004, the island was hit by hurricane Ivan. Nearly 90 per cent of the houses were damaged along with schools, hospitals and infrastructure such as roads. The banana industry was demolished and over 90 per cent of the forest lands and watersheds are stripped of vegetation.
Total costs have been estimated at $3 billion or more than double Grenada’s gross domestic product.
According to estimates by Munich Re, one of the world’s biggest re-insurance companies, weather-related disasters are on the rise. In the first ten months of 2004, insured losses amounted to some $35 billion — the largest loss ever — with uninsured losses some $90 billion. — Samina Iqbal
A bad habit
Most adolescents with established smoking habits continue to smoke as adults, states a recent issue of the journal Paediatrics.
This population is thus exposed to both long and short-term health consequences, including premature death. This calls for safe and effective smoking cessation interventions for adolescent smokers. Youth develop tobacco addiction and experience withdrawal symptoms similar to adults when they try to abstain from smoking. A study was conducted on 120 adolescents between 13 and 17 years age, smoking daily for 2.6 years. They were subjected to a nicotine patch (21mg) or nicotine gum (2and 4mg) or a dummy, for 12 weeks. All received cognitive — behavioural group therapy. They were followed up at six months.
The study results proved that the nicotine patch was significantly more effective than the dummy in helping dependent adolescent smokers to quit smoking. The gum group had better results than the dummy but not as good as the patch group.
The nicotine patch and gum were well tolerated and appeared safe. There were no significant adverse effects. As the gum has an aversive taste, the subjects prescribed nicotine gum may have shown reduced compliance.
Prolonged abstinence from cigarettes was 18 per cent for the active patch group, 6.5 per cent for the active gum group and 2.5 per cent for the dummy group. These figures were constant at three months follow up.
The study concluded that nicotine patch with cognitive behavioural intervention is an effective measure for treatment of tobacco dependence in teenagers. — Dr Fatema Jawad
Vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters including tsunamis and cyclones is among a range of emerging issues challenging the health and wealth of the world’s small island developing states.
