BHURBAN, May 27: Demographic changes due to unchecked urbanization and heavy influx of refugees have caused ecological disaster in various cities of the country.

This was stated by Federal Minister for Health Dr Abdul Malik Kasi while speaking at a five-day regional workshop on “Environmental health impact assessment (EHIA) of development projects” here on Monday.

He said environmental protection had become a mandatory factor in people’s lives as it protected humans against the hazardous effects of pollution. The basic human need for a safe environment included access to safe drinking water, adequate food and shelter, he added.

The minister cited the example of Quetta city which lost its past glory because of heavy consumption of water due to substantial increase in its population, over-grazing and deforestation. Similarly, in Karachi, the sewerage system had been completely choked leading to environmental degradation, he added.

He feared that Chitral would soon meet the same fate if the authorities did not intervene to save the city from environmental decay. “Rapid industrialization, urbanization, natural calamities and man-made disasters have perpetuated the recent trends of disease conditions and outbreak factors. Inadequacies in the management of environmental hazards have continued to pose a threat to the health of the people in the country,” Dr Kasi said.

The minister remarked that the present insufficiencies in the integration of environmental impact assessment (EIA) should be resolved through legislation and incorporation of health assessment into sustainable development planning. “This can be done by improving environmental impact assessment system and raising awareness and understanding through inter-sectoral collaboration,” he argued.

He said the two major areas of concern for environmental and public health considerations should include assessment of existing environmental conditions and environmental policy reforms with potential impact on health. “Health must be viewed in its totality while specific hazards and their components will have adverse impacts on the people and most likely affect the most vulnerable social groups like poor, ethnic and religious minorities, women, children and the elderly,” the minister said.

He said the government intended to introduce anti-tobacco law and help improve child health through awareness among mothers about breast feeding. Resources were being distributed under the new health policy to develop basic health units in rural areas to work on prevention of diseases, he added.

Earlier, the WHO representative in Pakistan, Dr Khalif Bile, stressed the need for classifying and developing a measurement to understand the impacts of any industrial development towards human health. He also read the message of the WHO regional director, Dr Hussein A Gezairy, stating that the WHO stresses the importance of preventing negative effects of development projects on health and environment.

Dr Gazairy was quoted as saying that the development projects in Asia like petro-chemical complexes, phosphate mining and fertilizer production, oil-drilling and refining operations, cement manufacturing, health, housing, tourism, water, waste water and communications infrastructures, development of airports and roads have resulted in tremendous socio-economic uplift and improvement in the quality of life in the region.

The adverse impacts on the environment, social structure and health were not adequately and properly assessed or addressed, either before or after each project, Dr Gazairy said.

Centre for Environmental Health Activities (CEHA) coordinator Dr M Z Ali Khan said sustainable development was necessary for health environment adding that approaches leading to poverty alleviation and reduction of population growth rates were necessary factors to ensure healthy environment.