Recorded presentation

Odile Randriamananjara, MD, DTM, Voahary Salama, Lot VC 99 Ambohidahy, Antananarivo, 101, Madagascar, 261-20-22-678-00, ehproject@simicro.mg and Eckhard Kleinau, Dr PH, MD, Environmental Health ProjectII (EHP), 1611 N. Kent St., Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22209.

Recognizing the nexus between population and the environment as a crucial element for achieving sustainable development and the conservation of biodiversity, USAID supported the Voahary Salama Association (VS), an NGO umbrella organization, that implements the integrated health, population and environment (PHE) program along Madagascar’s forest corridors. Over a four-year period, EHP, in collaboration with other partners (see appendix 1), played a major role in developing institutional and technical capacity of local NGOs to implement integrated activities in 160 Malagasy communities covering a population of 125,000 (out of 500,000) along three major environmental corridors in Madagascar between 2000 and 2004. Systematic monitoring and a rigorous evaluation showed that the integration of health, population and natural resource management programs can achieve good results in each sector at relatively low costs compared to programs implemented separately because of complementarities of interventions and programmatic synergies that occur when local NGOs work in partnership. Substantial improvements of key PHE indicators overall or in specific intervention areas were measured such as contraceptive prevalence rates, immunization coverage, access to safe water and basic sanitation, and the practice of less destructive natural resource management methods. However, health indicators such as malnutrition and diarrhea prevalence remained high. This can be attributed in part to high levels of poverty, a serious political crisis in 2002 and natural disasters from cyclones in early 2004.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will learn about the importance of partnerships to achieve results in multiple sectors.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation