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Housing design can buffer spread of TB in Haiti - campaigners

by Olesya Dmitracova | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Monday, 12 July 2010 08:18 GMT

* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

LONDON (AlertNet) - What do the walls of your house have to do with your health? Quite a lot if you live in a place like Haiti, say the organisers of a campaign promoting housing designs that reduce the spread of airborne diseases. The charity, Architectur

LONDON (AlertNet) - What do the walls of your house have to do with your health? Quite a lot if you live in a place like Haiti, say the organisers of a campaign promoting housing designs that reduce the spread of airborne diseases.

The charity, Architecture for Health In Vulnerable Environments (ARCHIVE), says something as simple as using the right materials for walls, floors and roofs can do much to improve ventilation and combat the spread of tuberculosis in a country with the highest rate of TB in the Americas.

TB is Haiti's greatest infectious cause of death after HIV/AIDS, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

"Organisations such as WHO, the World Bank all admit that health and housing are the two main challenges facing the country," said Peter Williams, founder and executive director of the charity set up in 2006.

The campaign was launched on Monday, six months after Haiti's devastating earthquake struck, leaving more than 1 million people homeless and living in makeshift tent cities.

The slow pace of reconstruction, coupled with the Atlantic hurricane season, leaves communities in the impoverished, flood-prone Carribean country at risk of flooding and landslides. Health workers are worried that heavy rains and wet conditions will help infections spread.

As part of its campaign, ARCHIVE is calling on architects, engineers, health experts and the general public to submit low-tech housing designs that could reduce the transmission of TB in Haiti. Five winning designs, selected by an interdisciplinary panel of judges and the local community, will be used to build five single-family units and will also be showcased in travelling exhibitions.

Using the right materials can lower humidity, improve ventilation and increase direct sunlight, which reduces the presence of indoor pathogens, ARCHIVE said in a statement.

Building materials that combine powered charcoal, which absorbs moisture well, with readily available biodegradable compounds such as recycled milk cartons, are an effective method of achieving this, Williams said.

Structural features of a house, such as perforated building blocks common in tropical countries, or large windows, can also improve ventilation, he added.

A study by British researchers published in 2005 showed that changes in the ventilation and design of a hospital ward may potentially reduce the transmission of airborne infections.

It is also widely known that housing conditions have an impact on the virulence of another, potentially fatal, illness - the Chagas disease - because the vectors reside in cracks, mud walls and thatched roofs, Williams told AlertNet.

"We hope (the campaign) will change how people view housing and, in the longer term, encourage organisations around the world to design and build houses that can limit disease transmission," he said in a statement.

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