Designing a Village Water Supply System In Papua New Guinea: A Case Study in Third World Delopment

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the second largest island in the world and one of the most biologically and culturally diverse nations on the planet. One of the last true stone age people, they are struggling with the delicate balance of entering the 21st century without losing their unique cultural heritage or devastating the fragile ecosystem they have lived in harmony with for thousands of years. Slow, careful steps are needed in order to ensure sustainable development; however the hardships of living close to nature - disease, drought, malnutrition, and lack of access to healthcare services, are causing Papua New Guineans to take detrimental steps in development, favoring short-term needs over long-term sustainability. Community development can help ease the growth pains of entering the modern world, bringing education and simple advances in agriculture and healthcare without the marring effects westernization often brings to struggling cultures. Foremost among the things needed by tribal communities is clean water. The Bare (bah-reh) people of Papua New Guinea live in a 300 square kilometer region in the northeast corner of the Easter Highlands province. Of the 22,000 tribal members distributed among approximately 70 villages, only a quarter have access to clean water, and of these, only Kanimpa (kah-neem-pah) has received a clean water supply system. The Olsons, a couple specialized in linguistics through the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL)are working with the Bare people in a variety of linguistic and development capacities. However,when the village of Punano expressed a desire for a clean water supply system, the Olsons had to seek technical assistance to aid in the design of the system. Having spent time with SIL in Papua New Guinea, I contacted their development office in PNG to see if my skills and education could be utilized for a short-term project and was soon after introduced to the Olsons. During the 4 weeks of June 2002 I worked with the Olsons in the village of Puna no in a variety of social and technical roles with the goal of designing the water system and producing a set of plans for its construction. Because of my knowledge of the culture and fluency in the trade language, I was well suited to deal with the intricacies of development, working to instill in the village people both ownership and responsibility for the water project. The village had decided upon a gravity flow system, and with the help of the Olsons, I surveyed the jungle water system using a handheld GPS unit and a sturdy pair of hiking boots. The water system design is composed of three main sections: (1) the source, a small perennial stream located 85 meters above and 1.254 kilometers northeast of the village; (2) the pipeline, composed mainly of 40 millimeter polyethylene pipe; and (3) the delivery tank, a 4500 liter TuffaTank located in the northeast section of the village. At the source, a small concrete reservoir will be constructed, damming the 3.61/s flow rate before it is piped to the 350 inhabitants of Punano. A steep descent into a u-profile 148m below the source will necessitate the construction of a break-pressure tank 73 meters below the source, and a washout at the minimum elevation in the u-profile to remove sediment buildup in the pipeline. While treatment of the water would be ideal, it is not within the tribe\u27s ability to maintain treatment over the long-term. However the source is located far from anthropogenic influence and carries little disease providing a significant improvement over the muddy irrigation ditch that serves as their current source of water

Prevention of early childhood caries

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97473/1/j.1600-0528.1988.tb02094.x.pd

Reducing Alaska Native paediatric oral health disparities: a systematic review of oral health interventions and a case study on multilevel strategies to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage intake

Background. Tooth decay is the most common paediatric disease and there is a serious paediatric tooth decay epidemic in Alaska Native communities. When untreated, tooth decay can lead to pain, infection, systemic health problems, hospitalisations and in rare cases death, as well as school absenteeism, poor grades and low quality-of-life. The extent to which population-based oral health interventions have been conducted in Alaska Native paediatric populations is unknown. Objective. To conduct a systematic review of oral health interventions aimed at Alaska Native children below age 18 and to present a case study and conceptual model on multilevel intervention strategies aimed at reducing sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake among Alaska Native children. Design. Based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement, the terms “Alaska Native”, “children” and “oral health” were used to search Medline, Embase, Web of Science, GoogleScholar and health foundation websites (1970–2012) for relevant clinical trials and evaluation studies. Results. Eighty-five studies were found in Medline, Embase and Web of Science databases and there were 663 hits in GoogleScholar. A total of 9 publications were included in the qualitative review. These publications describe 3 interventions that focused on: reducing paediatric tooth decay by educating families and communities; providing dental chemotherapeutics to pregnant women; and training mid-level dental care providers. While these approaches have the potential to improve the oral health of Alaska Native children, there are unique challenges regarding intervention acceptability, reach and sustainability. A case study and conceptual model are presented on multilevel strategies to reduce SSB intake among Alaska Native children. Conclusions. Few oral health interventions have been tested within Alaska Native communities. Community-centred multilevel interventions are promising approaches to improve the oral and systemic health of Alaska Native children. Future investigators should evaluate the feasibility of implementing multilevel interventions and policies within Alaska Native communities as a way to reduce children's health disparities

Relationship between parental locus of control and caries experience in preschool children – cross-sectional survey

Background: Due to high prevalence and serious impacts, childhood caries represents a public health issue. Behavioural risk factors such as locus of health control have been implicated in the development of the disease; however their association with childhood caries has not been thoroughly studied. The aim of this cross-sectional survey was to assess the relationship between parental locus of health control and caries experience and untreated caries of their preschool children in a representative sample in Czech Republic, adjusting for relevant sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: A representative sample of 285 preschool children and their parents was recruited. Study data included children's dental status recorded in nurseries and parental questionnaires with 13 attitudinal items regarding locus of control (LoC) in caries prevention. The association between parental locus of control and children's caries experience and level of untreated caries was analysed using logistic regression, adjusting for the effect of key sociodemographic variables. Results: There was a statistically highly significant linear trend between increased parental LoC and higher probability of the children to be free from untreated caries, independent from the effect of sociodemographic variables of children and parents. A similar highly statistically significant trend, although not entirely linear, and independent from sociodemographic variables was observed with respect to the chance of the children to be free from caries experience with increasing strength of parental LoC. After full adjustment, children in the strongest parental LoC quintile were 2.81 (1.23–6.42, p< 0.05) times more likely to be free from untreated caries in comparison to the weakest parental LoC quintile and 2.32 (1.02–5.25, p< 0.05) times more likely to be free from caries experience in comparison to the weakest parental LoC quintile. Conclusion: The findings support the hypothesis that higher internal parental LoC is associated with better control of both untreated caries and caries experience in their preschool children and highlight that a more internal LoC within the family is advantageous in the prevention of dental caries

Early Childhood Caries among a Bedouin community residing in the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>ECC is commonly prevalent among underprivileged populations. The Jahalin Bedouin are a severely deprived, previously nomadic tribe, dwelling on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem. The aim of this study was to assess ECC prevalence and potentially associated variables.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>102 children aged 12–36 months were visually examined for caries, mothers' anterior dentition was visually subjectively appraised, demographic and health behavior data were collected by interview.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among children, 17.6% demonstrated ECC, among mothers, 37.3% revealed "fairly bad" anterior teeth. Among children drinking bottles there was about twice the level of ECC (20.3%) than those breast-fed (13.2%). ECC was found only among children aged more than one year (p < 0.001); more prevalent ECC (55.6%) was found among large (10–13 children) families than among smaller families (1–5 children: 13.5%, 6–9 children: 15.6%) (p = 0.009); ECC was more prevalent among children of less educated mothers (p = 0.037); ECC was more prevalent among mothers with "fairly poor" anterior dentition (p = 0.04). Oral hygiene practices were poor.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>ECC levels in this community were not very high but neither low. This changing population might be on the verge of a wider dental disease "epidemic". Public health efforts clearly need to be invested towards the oral health and general welfare of this community.</p

Planning and evaluating tobacco use interventions for minority school children.

This dissertation consists of three separate papers. The first paper is a meta-analysis of seven published and two unpublished surveys on the prevalence of smokeless tobacco use among Native American school children. This review describes and discusses the survey methods, prevalence, duration and intensity of smokeless tobacco use, and health effects documented in these studies. Prevalence of regular smokeless tobacco use ranged from 18 percent in K-6th graders to 55.9 percent in 9th-10th graders. Comparisons made to non-Native survey data demonstrate the severity of the problem in Native American communities. Thus, the need for intervention was established. The second paper is the evaluation of a teaching unit intended to prevent school children in grades K-3 from using tobacco products. A total of 1,324 children from three state sites and three Indian Health Service sites participated in the pilot test of the teaching unit. The evaluation design was a randomized untreated control group with pretest and posttest. Overall, there were no statistically significant improvements in knowledge, attitudes, or behavior. It was concluded that a three session teaching unit is not an intense enough intervention in communities where smokeless tobacco use is prevalent. The third paper explores the process of designing innovations in the health promotion field using the program from the second paper as a case study. The organizational and policy contexts in which the program was executed are discussed to illustrate common problems in health promotion program planning. Alternative organizational structures that would better suit innovation are described. It is concluded that bureaucratic health agencies should consider "matrix" or "open" forms of organizational structure for the design of health promotion/disease prevention interventions. The common theme of the three papers is the problem of tobacco use among minority school children, with an interest in the design of effective interventions for the future. The design of such programs will best be accomplished in an organizational setting that is conducive to innovation.Dr.P.H.Public Health: Health PolicyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/105323/1/9121273.pdfDescription of 9121273.pdf : Restricted to UM users only

Designing a Village Water Supply System In Papua New Guinea: A Case Study in Third World Delopment

A Professional Project Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Water Resources, Water Resources Program, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 2003.Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the second largest island in the world and one of the most biologically and culturally diverse nations on the planet. One of the last true stone age people, they are struggling with the delicate balance of entering the 21st century without losing their unique cultural heritage or devastating the fragile ecosystem they have lived in harmony with for thousands of years. Slow, careful steps are needed in order to ensure sustainable development; however the hardships of living close to nature - disease, drought, malnutrition, and lack of access to healthcare services, are causing Papua New Guineans to take detrimental steps in development, favoring short-term needs over long-term sustainability. Community development can help ease the growth pains of entering the modern world, bringing education and simple advances in agriculture and healthcare without the marring effects westernization often brings to struggling cultures. Foremost among the things needed by tribal communities is clean water. The Bare (bah-reh) people of Papua New Guinea live in a 300 square kilometer region in the northeast corner of the Easter Highlands province. Of the 22,000 tribal members distributed among approximately 70 villages, only a quarter have access to clean water, and of these, only Kanimpa (kah-neem-pah) has received a clean water supply system. The Olsons, a couple specialized in linguistics through the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL)are working with the Bare people in a variety of linguistic and development capacities. However,when the village of Punano expressed a desire for a clean water supply system, the Olsons had to seek technical assistance to aid in the design of the system. Having spent time with SIL in Papua New Guinea, I contacted their development office in PNG to see if my skills and education could be utilized for a short-term project and was soon after introduced to the Olsons. During the 4 weeks of June 2002 I worked with the Olsons in the village of Puna no in a variety of social and technical roles with the goal of designing the water system and producing a set of plans for its construction. Because of my knowledge of the culture and fluency in the trade language, I was well suited to deal with the intricacies of development, working to instill in the village people both ownership and responsibility for the water project. The village had decided upon a gravity flow system, and with the help of the Olsons, I surveyed the jungle water system using a handheld GPS unit and a sturdy pair of hiking boots. The water system design is composed of three main sections: (1) the source, a small perennial stream located 85 meters above and 1.254 kilometers northeast of the village; (2) the pipeline, composed mainly of 40 millimeter polyethylene pipe; and (3) the delivery tank, a 4500 liter TuffaTank located in the northeast section of the village. At the source, a small concrete reservoir will be constructed, damming the 3.61/s flow rate before it is piped to the 350 inhabitants of Punano. A steep descent into a u-profile 148m below the source will necessitate the construction of a break-pressure tank 73 meters below the source, and a washout at the minimum elevation in the u-profile to remove sediment buildup in the pipeline. While treatment of the water would be ideal, it is not within the tribe's ability to maintain treatment over the long-term. However the source is located far from anthropogenic influence and carries little disease providing a significant improvement over the muddy irrigation ditch that serves as their current source of water