Health and Environment Analysis for Decision-Making (HEADLAMP): field study in Accra, Ghana

This field study assesses the feasibility of routine data linkage of health and environmental indicators in Accra, Ghana. In Accra, as in most low-income developing countries, there is no coherent management information system available covering environmental, demographic and health aspects of the city. These categories of data are, however, collected either routinely or on an ad hoc basis by different agencies within the city. These data bases, even though of variable quality, can be adapted for the purpose of health and environment data linkage. A number of studies have already been undertaken within Accra linking health and environment data with a good measure of success. These include: an intra-urban environment and health differentials study using mortality data; a household survey of environmental problems and the urban household in which morbidity data and environmental data were linked, also indicating intra-urban differentials together with the isolation of high risk factors from a logistical regression analysis; simple cholera mapping; and an initiative to pilot-test a community-based environmental management information system in a low-income community in which health and environmental data will be linked. All these studies have created a greater awareness of the need for such data linkage and of the value of such studies for the sustainable management of the city.