Community Health

In 2019, the Madagascar Population-Health-Environment (PHE) Network celebrated five years of advancing health-environment work in some of the country’s most isolated, under-served and biodiverse zones. In 2020, it is facing potentially the greatest challenge yet – the global COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst network member organisations including Blue Ventures have effectively responded to infectious disease outbreaks in ...

This article was first published as a commentary on Mongabay on April 22nd 2020 Impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on vulnerable communities in the Global South go far beyond the looming public health emergency.  The broader economic and environmental ramifications are of profound importance to biodiversity conservation. How the conservation movement responds will determine our relevance ...

In 2019, Blue Ventures supported our partners Safari Doctors and Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) in securing access to a documentary crew willing to produce a short film about their pioneering health-environment work in Lamu County, Kenya. The short film, ‘Pamoja’ – meaning ‘together’ in Swahili – explores Safari Doctors, NRT and Blue Ventures’ current collaborative ...

In a recently published article by Rapid Transition Alliance, education for girls has been denoted as a “powerful catalyst for rapid change” in tackling the climate emergency. Despite being disproportionately affected by climate shock, it has been highlighted that it is women and girls who could unlock some of the most effective solutions – if ...

New research published in the Journal of Disaster Risk Studies examines the community response in the Velondriake Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA), southwest Madagascar, to cyclone Haruna in 2013, and how this response was strengthened by Blue Ventures’ integrated health-environment approach to community-based marine conservation. The authors describe how a health-environment approach can contribute to ...

New research published today in Global Environmental Change highlights the value of a holistic approach to community-based marine conservation – integrating family planning and other health services with livelihood diversification, gender equality and local marine management initiatives. The mixed methods study was conducted in the Velondriake Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) in coastal southwest Madagascar ...

How did it feel when we placed our integrated health-environment programmes under scrutiny? Read the full post: Curiosity, discomfort, new understanding: an insider’s account of our latest health-environment research

A learning exchange in West Kalimantan focused on the value of integrated approaches to conservation Read the full post: Different contexts, shared approach

Collaborating with community health workers to support treatment and vaccination in remote areas Read the full post: Madagascar’s measles epidemic: the story on the ground

In a recent report from Global Health Alliance Australia covering health and climate change in the Australia and Asia Pacific regions, Blue Ventures' partnership with Marie Stopes Timor-Leste is used as a case study to illustrate effective health-environment integration. The integrated programming – which focused on health, conservation, alternative livelihoods, and empowering women and communities ...