Primary, Environmental and Health Care in Asian Communities

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1. Survey in Bangladesh: Intensive field surveys were conducted on November 98. Feb-Mar 99, and, Jul-Aug 99, in two villages (total ; 350 households) of Nawabganj prefecture, northwestern Bangladesh. Study items included survey on the usage and state of arsenic contamination for all the tube-wells located in the survey area, anthropometry, urine and hair sampling, dermatological examination, and a questionnaire regarding the awareness and knowledge regarding the arsenic poisoning. The water and urinary samples were brought back to Japan and subsequently analyzed by Hydride-Generation Atomic Absorption Spectrometry for arsenic as, well as selenium content. There was a considerable difference regarding As concentration among the tube-wells which well spanned more than two order of magnitude, which would make it difficult to assume a tentative "average" exposure level even for a very small area. The As concentration in the urine of an individual and that of tube-well which he/she has been … More using show a strong positive correlation. Dose-response relationship in terms of the correlation between dermatological symptoms (keratosis and melanosis) and urinary concentrations were only established in males in one village. In both of the villages, man showed much severe symptoms than women even the exposure level were similar, which strongly suggests the existence of gender difference in the susceptibility to skin manifestation of the chronic arsenic toxicity. It was also, suggested that subjects having a lower BMI (or %fat) tended to have more severe dermatological symptoms.2. Survey in Thailand : Intensive field survey were conducted on Feb-Mar 99, and Jul-Aug 99, in five villages (total 55Q households) of Yaso-thon prefecture, northeastern Thailand. Research items Included an interview regarding the usage of pesticides for a various agricultural activities, food frequency questionnaire, reproductive history of women ; sampling urine and environmental media (fish and pond water) for pesticide analyses, and measurement of blood cholinesterase activity. It was found that a variety of pesticide has been used in this area mainly, for water-melon cultivation, and many females were engaged in the application of pesticides, which pause a concern for possible effects of these chemicals not only for themselves but also for their reproductive performance. Less