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Book chapter | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Health risks to the population of Gezira/Sudan following irrigation of cotton fields |
Author: | Ebéné, R.T. |
Book title: | Health and disease in tropical Africa: geographical and medical viewpoints / ed. by Rais Akhtar |
Year: | 1987 |
Pages: | 293-303 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Sudan |
Subjects: | health irrigation cotton |
Abstract: | To prevent an ecological catastrophy, ecological factors should be carefully analysed and taken into consideration before projecting the building of dams for the necessary irrigation of agricultural fields. This, evidently, has been neglected in the Gezira area of Sudan as a result of an accelerated rate of increase in the need for water, especially for cotton cultivation. On the one hand, the increased cotton production has led to a higher worker population density; on the other hand, the shadowy cotton plants, as well as the slow running and still waters, have provided suitable conditions for the hyperendemic aggravation of certain tropical endemic parasitic diseases (leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, malaria). A further health risk in the cotton economy is the exposure to cotton dust and the development of cotton dust lung disease (byssinosis). It is assumed that the byssinosis morbidity rate has also increased due to the larger cotton production level. Bibliogr. |