New method for environmental monitoring in armed conflict zones: a case study of Syria.

Today, armed conflict affects some twenty countries, covering an area making up 11% of the surface area of the Earth. Any degradation of nature in these areas represents a harmful depletion of the world's natural heritage. Despite this, environmental issues are neglected during these periods of conflict, considered secondary to the urgency of restoring peace and safeguarding human life. Yet their consequences are potentially severe. In these areas, it is future generations who will suffer the effects of the current devastation for a very long time. In this context, the method developed in this study, named (Geographic Information System) for Environmental Monitoring in Wartime, can be used to calculate a risk indicator for environmental degradation, spatial monitoring and risk management. This will make it possible to identify the main threats to protected areas, catalogue the damage caused to the environment by armed conflicts and create a dynamic risk map. In this paper, GIS-EMW has been applied to calculate a risk indicator for environmental degradation in Syria.

Geographical and environmental approaches to urban malaria in Antananarivo (Madagascar).

BACKGROUND: Previous studies, conducted in the urban of Antananarivo, showed low rate of confirmed malaria cases. We used a geographical and environmental approach to investigate the contribution of environmental factors to urban malaria in Antananarivo. METHODS: Remote sensing data were used to locate rice fields, which were considered to be the principal mosquito breeding sites. We carried out supervised classification by the maximum likelihood method. Entomological study allowed vector species determination from collected larval and adult mosquitoes. Mosquito infectivity was studied, to assess the risk of transmission, and the type of mosquito breeding site was determined. Epidemiological data were collected from November 2006 to December 2007, from public health centres, to determine malaria incidence. Polymerase chain reaction was carried out on dried blood spots from patients, to detect cases of malaria. Rapid diagnostic tests were used to confirm malaria cases among febrile school children in a school survey.A geographical information system was constructed for data integration. Altitude, temperature, rainfall, population density and rice field surface area were analysed and the effects of these factors on the occurrence of confirmed malaria cases were studied. RESULTS: Polymerase chain reaction confirmed malaria in 5.1% of the presumed cases. Entomological studies showed An. arabiensis as potential vector. Rice fields remained to be the principal breeding sites. Travel report was considered as related to the occurrence of P. falciparum malaria cases. CONCLUSION: Geographical and environmental factors did not show direct relationship with malaria incidence but they seem ensuring suitability of vector development. Absence of relationship may be due to a lack of statistical power. Despite the presence of An. arabiensis, scarce parasitic reservoir and rapid access to health care do not constitute optimal conditions to a threatening malaria transmission. However, imported malaria case is suggestive to sustain the pocket transmission in Antananarivo.

[Role of traditional medicine in the health care system of the cities of sub-Saharan Africa: Libreville in Gabon]. / Place de la médecine traditionnelle dans le système de soins des villes d'Afrique subsaharienne : le cas de Libreville au Gabon.

Traditional medicine in Libreville is undergoing changes, despite the refusal of some actors in the modern health-care system to recognize it. It is gradually adopting the methods and techniques of modern medicine for patient management. It therefore occupies the same medical space as the modern care system, creating competition. Traditional medicine is positioning itself to deal with pathologies related to the body, thus competing with -- and annoying -- some of the actors of the modern system of care. At the same time, it lays claim to pathologies related to the spirit, thus distinguishing itself.

Determining areas that require indoor insecticide spraying using Multi Criteria Evaluation, a decision-support tool for malaria vector control programmes in the Central Highlands of Madagascar.

BACKGROUND: The highlands of Madagascar present an unstable transmission pattern of malaria. The population has no immunity, and the central highlands have been the sites of epidemics with particularly high fatality. The most recent epidemic occurred in the 1980s, and caused about 30,000 deaths. The fight against malaria epidemics in the highlands has been based on indoor insecticide spraying to control malaria vectors. Any preventive programme involving generalised cover in the highlands will require very substantial logistical support. We used multicriteria evaluation, by the method of weighted linear combination, as basis for improved targeting of actions by determining priority zones for intervention. RESULTS: Image analysis and field validation showed the accuracy of mapping rice fields to be between 82.3% and 100%, and the Kappa coefficient was 0.86 to 0.99.A significant positive correlation was observed between the abundance of the vector Anopheles funestus and temperature; the correlation coefficient was 0.599 (p < 0.001). A significant negative correlation was observed between vector abundance and human population density: the correlation coefficient was -0.551 (p < 0.003). Factor weights were determined by pair-wise comparison and the consistency ratio was 0.04. Risk maps of the six study zones were obtained according to a gradient of risk. Nine of thirteen results of alert confirmed by the Epidemiological Surveillance Post were in concordance with the risk map. CONCLUSION: This study is particularly valuable for the management of vector control programmes, and particularly the reduction of the vector population with a view to preventing disease. The risk map obtained can be used to identify priority zones for the management of resources, and also help avoid systematic and generalised spraying throughout the highlands: such spraying is particularly difficult and expensive. The accuracy of the mapping, both as concerns time and space, is dependent on the availability of data. Continuous monitoring of malaria transmission factors must be undertaken to detect any changes. A regular case notification allows risk map to be verified. These actions should therefore be implemented so that risk maps can be satisfactorily assessed.

Detection of linear features in synthetic-aperture radar images by use of the localized Radon transform and prior information.

A new linear-features detection method is proposed for extracting straight edges and lines in synthetic-aperture radar images. This method is based on the localized Radon transform, which produces geometrical integrals along straight lines. In the transformed domain, linear features have a specific signature: They appear as strongly contrasted structures, which are easier to extract with the conventional ratio edge detector. The proposed method is dedicated to applications such as geographical map updating for which prior information (approximate length and orientation of features) is available. Experimental results show the method's robustness with respect to poor radiometric contrast and hidden parts and its complementarity to conventional pixel-by-pixel approaches.