The Ecohealth Approach: International Development Research Centre

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The Ecohealth Approach

Bean seedsdisplayed in painted clay pots at a Biodiversity Festival in Andrah Pradesh, India (D. Buckles)

The Ecohealth PI

The Ecohealth PI simultaneously promotes and implements an integrative approach to research (an “Ecohealth approach”). It supports research that investigates how social, political, economic and ecological conditions mediate the dynamics of health-environment relationships and their interactions with external processes. The aim is to identify and address the pressures and impacts on sub-systems and human health.

In implementing an Ecohealth approach, the PI seeks to create new knowledge. This occurs on two levels: (1) with regard to the particular research issues and themes the PI addresses and (2) with regard to good practices for the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems to enable improved human health and well-being. A significant part of this new knowledge is the identification of social, economic and governance structures and processes, as well as people’s attitudes, behaviour and relations to the environment that contribute to human health and well-being, thus providing a better understanding of constraints and possibilities for change. Interventions are designed to strengthen behaviour that leads to positive health and well-being outcomes, or to create incentives for change where behaviour outcomes are negative. These changes are initiated through policy influence efforts or focused actions. Since interventions are identified through stakeholder participation from the outset of the research, there is an increased possibility of greater connectivity with, and ownership of, the direction of change by those affected.

The Ecohealth approach

The approach "explores the relationships between various ecosystem components to define and value the priority determinants of health and human well-being." It "recognizes that there are inextricable links between humans and their biophysical, social, and economic environments that are reflected in an individual's health." In implementing the approach, the PI has used a broad and integrated conceptualization of health, which captures its social, political, economic and ecological dimension. Health is seen as a resource for everyday life – a means, but also an end in itself. Thus health promotion goes beyond personal lifestyle strategies to include more political and social ones. Policy and personal and collective behaviour are, therefore, firmly the focus of attention. The approach is cognizant of the heterogeneity of communities, and is specially attentive to vulnerable groups, such as women, children, the elderly and other groups that may be socially, politically, and economically disadvantaged.

'Ecosystems' in this approach are defined relative to the research problem. They refer to social, political, economic, and ecological sub-systems in interaction, both on a temporal and spatial scale. Human activities (or stressors) alter these contexts and have positive or negative effects on individuals and communities involved. The approach currently has three core elements or pillars: trandisciplinarity; social and gender equity; and stakeholder participation. These elements are key to improving health and well-being as they allow for an understanding of change that explicitly links the interacting sub-systems. These core elements continue to evolve as we learn what is required to understand the interactions between society and science, and among various sub-systems of the ecosystem.

The PI’s more general learning to date suggests that the Ecohealth approach has the potential to contribute at three levels: research for development and change; policy influence; and increased interactions of science and society. But much more needs to be done to fully realize this potential (see the Box 1 for an example of this ongoing contribution).

Research for development and change

The participatory process central to the approach can contribute to the construction and enrichment of social capital in the communities involved in the research. This social capital is decisive in the search for negotiated lasting solutions to the problems being studied. Through the course of the research, as well as in the medium and long term, it helps foster community empowerment and contributes to increasing cohesiveness and capacity to negotiate with other actors, including local, regional and national authorities.

Research and policy

Projects have had successes, albeit limited, in influencing policy formulation or change. Where there has been success, it seems to be linked to the use of multi-stakeholder processes and engagement in research and to the creation of conditions for change that have over time led to policy change. This has been either though improving the knowledge base of policy actors by enabling learning opportunities through workshops, focus groups and other interactions, or through influencing the design of new policies.

Science and society

Implementation of projects provides opportunities to increase the interactions between science and society. This allows a greater engagement of society in knowledge production and its validation, as well as can increase the reflexivity of the researcher. Researchers have found this “social encounter” useful both to create sustainability of changes and to provide opportunities to confront and face conflicting interests.

Document(s)

An Ecosystem and Participatory Approach to Dengue Prevention in Havana City 2004-12-17

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