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Health Surveillance
Large economic development projects may have short-term as well as long-term effects on health in the communities involved. The Institute has been able to contribute to the evaluation of some of these projects, even though it was not itself responsible for the health monitoring. An early attempt was made to establish a health surveillance unit for the North Fly area, to monitor the effects on the health of the local people and those involved in the mining over the life of the Ok Tedi mining project, but the unit was not funded. However, collaborative studies on nutrition and malaria, in particular, were carried out in the North Fly area. Working with the provincial and district health authorities, the Institute conducted baseline health studies of the population affected by the Lihir gold mining development. Similar activities took place in the Gogol Valley, in relation to the woodchipping industry, and in the Purari River system, at the time when the Wabo dam was under consideration, where the particular emphasis was on arbovirus infection. The impact of an agricultural development project on nutrition and health was studied in detail in research carried out in Karimui. The IMR is represented on the committee which monitors the environmental and health impacts of the Porgera gold mine, and staff from both Goroka and Tari have taken part in field assessments along the Strickland River.
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