The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has pledged continued efforts in encouraging and rewarding behavior to support the collective well-being of the poor.
The Minister Sadiya Umar Farouq who made a presentation on ‘The place of Environmental Health in the National Social Investment Programmes’ at the Maiden National Health Summit held in Abuja at the weekend stated that efforts to incorporate environmental health into GEEP will be fast tracked by giving incentives and prioritizing businesses that contribute to the sustainability of environmental health and wellbeing of the people.
”By helping to mainstream good hygiene and sustainable water use, sustainable hygienic waste handling and disposal in our National Home Grown School Feeding NHGSFP, by ensuring that N-Power provides the required skills and competences especially among the youth to fully participate in efforts to ensure sustainable environment and to encourage the poorest of the poor to attain better livelihoods under the Conditional Cash Transfer CCT and also improve their responsibility to the environment.
“We believe that small behavioural changes and practices such as these will over time lead to cultural shifts in how we approach our environment and the priority we place on it collectively as a society”.
She stressed that while government is paying so much attention to protecting the environment and tackling natural effects of natural disasters, there is need to note the asymmetrical effects of Environmental Health challenges on the poor and most vulnerable of our society.
She explained that the impact of poor waste management, air pollution, water pollution, sanitation, deforestation and desertification are more detrimental to the poor and their economic vulnerability which leaves them with fewer options to pursue environmentally conscious practices.
“In this way we see that Social Investment Programmes are not just important to help the poor in the short term, but to lift them out of poverty and provide them with increasing access to inclusive and sustainable economic prosperity.”
It is a common knowledge that many of the diseases amongst the poor have direct links to the state of their environment.
Accordng to the UN World Health Organization, approximately twenty-five percent (25%) of the disease burden in developing countries can be attributed to the environment.
“As such there are implications of Environmental Health policy and practice on the most vulnerable of society”, Sadiya said.
With a renewed vigour to pay special attention to these health and environmental issues through the National Social Investment Programmes, she is optimistic that more results can be achieved in its fight against poverty.