NGOs in East Africa must monitor health issues

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

The East African Community (EAC) Council of Ministers has directed that non-governmental organisations in the region incorporate health issues into their projects.

NGOs will be expected to integrate issues like population control, disease prevention and treatment in their project work plans in order to have a direct impact on humanity. The integrated Population, Health and Environment Programme run under the Lake Victoria Basin Commission was started in September 2015 and is now being implemented.

“If we set up infrastructure like roads, we must ensure that the community using them is healthy,” said project co-ordinator Doreen Othero.

Adoption: The integrated approach means that if an NGO had been predominantly running programmes on HIV/Aids, they must now adopt environmental conservation.

“The population, health and environment approach is one of the key solutions to attaining sustainable development in the region. We needed a law to guide it in order to ensure that the integrated services address the needs of communities and gaps in service delivery,” reads the programme.

Source: The East African (link opens in a new window)

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Environment, Health Care