Movimentos de massa em Salvador: uma contribuição preliminar

O número de ocorrências de movimento de massa em áreas urbanas tem crescido significativamente, principalmente nas grandes capitais do país. Com isso, muitos pesquisadores têm se dedicado a estudos que auxilie na compreensão dos fatores que podem estar contribuindo para o aumento dessas ocorrências. Com a cidade de Salvador-BA não é diferente, pois muitos são os fatores que corroboram para que os movimentos de massa aconteçam. Esses estão relacionados desde a sua localização geográfica que possui ligação direta com o clima, passando pela conformação espacial do relevo e consequentemente pela distribuição do contingente populacional que ocupa suas áreas. Assim, o trabalho a seguir tem a pretensão de apresentar os resultados alcançados, ainda que preliminares, através da pesquisa que vem sendo desenvolvida nessa área tendo como principal foco a identificação dos núcleos de ocorrências de movimentos de massa existente na cidade

Systematic surveillance tools to reduce rodent pests in disadvantaged urban areas can empower communities and improve public health

Rodents are notorious pests, known for transmitting major public health diseases and causing agricultural and economic losses. The lack of site-specific and national standardised rodent surveillance in several disadvantaged communities has rendered interventions targeted towards rodent control as often ineffective. Here, by using the example from a pilot case-study in the Bahamas, we present a unique experience wherein, through multidisciplinary and community engagement, we simultaneously developed a standardised national surveillance protocol, and performed two parallel but integrated activities: (1) eight days of theoretical and practical training of selected participants; and (2) a three-month post-training pilot rodent surveillance in the urban community of Over-the-Hill, Nassau, The Bahamas. To account for social and environmental conditions influencing rodent proliferation in the Bahamas, we engaged selected influential community members through a semi-structured interview and gathered additional site-specific information using a modified Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) exterior and interior rodent evaluation form, along with other validated instruments such as tracking plates and snap trapping, to test and establish a standardised site-specific rodent surveillance protocol tailored for the Bahamas. Our engagement with community members highlighted poor disposal of animal and human food, irregular garbage collection, unapproved refuse storage, lack of accessible dumpsters, poor bulk waste management, ownership problems and structural deficiencies as major factors fuelling rodent proliferation in the study areas. Accordingly, results from our pilot survey using active rodent signs (that is, the presence of rodent runs, burrows, faecal material or gnawed material) as a proxy of rodent infestation in a generalized linear model confirmed that the variables earlier identified during the community engagement program as significantly correlated with rodent activities (and capturing) across the study areas. The successful implementation of the novel site-specific protocol by trained participants, along with the correlation of their findings with those recorded during the community engagement program, underscores its suitability and applicability in disadvantaged urban settings. This experience should serve as a reference for promoting a standardised protocol for monitoring rodent activities in many disadvantaged urban settings of the Global South, while also fostering a holistic understanding of rodent proliferation. Through this pilot case-study, we advocate for the feasibility of developing sustainable rodent control interventions that are acceptable to both local communities and public authorities, particularly through the involvement of a multidisciplinary team of professionals and community members

Simplified sewerage to prevent urban leptospirosis transmission: a cluster non-randomised controlled trial protocol in disadvantaged urban communities of Salvador, Brazil.

INTRODUCTION: Leptospirosis is a globally distributed zoonotic and environmentally mediated disease that has emerged as a major health problem in urban slums in developing countries. Its aetiological agent is bacteria of the genus Leptospira, which are mainly spread in the urine of infected rodents, especially in an environment where adequate sanitation facilities are lacking, and it is known that open sewers are key transmission sources of the disease. Therefore, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of a simplified sewerage intervention in reducing the risk of exposure to contaminated environments and Leptospira infection and to characterise the transmission mechanisms involved. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This matched quasi-experimental study design using non-randomised intervention and control clusters was designed to assess the effectiveness of an urban simplified sewerage intervention in the low-income communities of Salvador, Brazil. The intervention consists of household-level piped sewerage connections and community engagement and public involvement activities. A cohort of 1400 adult participants will be recruited and grouped into eight clusters consisting of four matched intervention-control pairs with approximately 175 individuals in each cluster in baseline. The primary outcome is the seroincidence of Leptospira infection assessed through five serological measurements: one preintervention (baseline) and four postintervention. As a secondary outcome, we will assess Leptospira load in soil, before and after the intervention. We will also assess Leptospira exposures before and after the intervention, through transmission modelling, accounting for residents' movement, contact with flooding, contaminated soil and water, and rat infestation, to examine whether and how routes of exposure for Leptospira change following the introduction of sanitation. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study protocol has been reviewed and approved by the ethics boards at the Federal University of Bahia and the Brazilian National Research Ethics Committee. Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and presentations to implementers, researchers and participating communities. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry (RBR-8cjjpgm)

The influence of physical factors on the occurrence of landslides on slopes: a case study in Morro do Calabetão in Salvador - BA

The occurrence of urban sites is historically marked by the occurrences of urban sites in Salvador that occur on the slopes of their location. The occurrence of slopes associated with temporary soils in many events due to the strong conditioned coverage that will act on the slopes, often the occurrence of accidental occurrences, resulting from the occurrence of an occurrence of plant occurrences, often in the occurrence of occurrence of plant occurrences, that can occur in situations of occurrence of events, when vegetation is removed, used and when vegetation is removed, irregular occupation, slopes for the execution of urban forms of opening for housing construction and expansion of areas to increase the streets and avenues, corroborating the increase in erosive steps and favoring the instability of the slopes. Thus, the relevance of the theme, and the impacts that these have caused to the city and its inhabitants, this research proposed to carry out a case study in Morro do Calabetão, in Salvador - BA, with the objective of analyzing how the influence of physical factors, for example, the shapes of the slopes, the structural lineaments and the action of the climate, geology, soil, geomorphology, slope and altitude can contribute to the occurrence of landslides and landslides of properties in the study area.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)A cidade de Salvador é marcada historicamente pelas inúmeras ocorrências de deslizamentos que ocorrem nas encostas do seu sítio urbano. A morfologia das encostas quando associadas a solos muitos intemperizados em virtude da forte influência climática que atua sobre a geologia local, resulta em ambientes favoráveis a ocorrência desses eventos, que agravam-se, quando atrelados a ações antrópicas de remoção da cobertura vegetal, uso e ocupação do solo de maneira irregular, execução de cortes em taludes de forma inadequada para construção de habitações, abertura de ruas e avenidas e expansão de áreas urbanizadas, corroborando com o aumento dos processos erosivos e favorecendo a instabilidade das encostas. Destarte a relevância do tema, e os impactos que estes têm causado à cidade e seus habitantes, essa pesquisa se propôs a realizar um estudo de caso no Morro do Calabetão, em Salvador - BA, com o objetivo de analisar como a influência de fatores físicos, a exemplo, das formas das vertentes, dos lineamentos estruturais e a ação do clima, geologia, solo, geomorfologia, declividade e altitude podem contribuir para ocorrências de deslizamentos e desabamentos de imóveis na área de estudo

Systematic surveillance tools to reduce rodent pests in disadvantaged urban areas can empower communities and improve public health

International audienceRodents are notorious pests, known for transmitting major public health diseases and causing agricultural and economic losses. The lack of site-specific and national standardised rodent surveillance in several disadvantaged communities has rendered interventions targeted towards rodent control as often ineffective. Here, by using the example from a pilot case-study in the Bahamas, we present a unique experience wherein, through multidisciplinary and community engagement, we simultaneously developed a standardised national surveillance protocol, and performed two parallel but integrated activities: (1) eight days of theoretical and practical training of selected participants; and (2) a three-month post-training pilot rodent surveillance in the urban community of Over-the-Hill, Nassau, The Bahamas. To account for social and environmental conditions influencing rodent proliferation in the Bahamas, we engaged selected influential community members through a semi-structured interview and gathered additional site-specific information using a modified Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) exterior and interior rodent evaluation form, along with other validated instruments such as tracking plates and snap trapping, to test and establish a standardised site-specific rodent surveillance protocol tailored for the Bahamas. Our engagement with community members highlighted poor disposal of animal and human food, irregular garbage collection, unapproved refuse storage, lack of accessible dumpsters, poor bulk waste management, ownership problems and structural deficiencies as major factors fuelling rodent proliferation in the study areas. Accordingly, results from our pilot survey using active rodent signs (that is, the presence of rodent runs, burrows, faecal material or gnawed material) as a proxy of rodent infestation in a generalized linear model confirmed that the variables earlier identified during the community engagement program as significantly correlated with rodent activities (and capturing) across the study areas. The successful implementation of the novel site-specific protocol by trained participants, along with the correlation of their findings with those recorded during the community engagement program, underscores its suitability and applicability in disadvantaged urban settings. This experience should serve as a reference for promoting a standardised protocol for monitoring rodent activities in many disadvantaged urban settings of the Global South, while also fostering a holistic understanding of rodent proliferation. Through this pilot case-study, we advocate for the feasibility of developing sustainable rodent control interventions that are acceptable to both local communities and public authorities, particularly through the involvement of a multidisciplinary team of professionals and community members