Tetteh Dinah, Lengel Lara
1 Arkansas State University - Department of Communication, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA.
2 Bowling Green State University - School of Media and Communication, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA.
Glob Health Promot. 2017 Jun;24(2):35-42. doi: 10.1177/1757975916686926. Epub 2017 Mar 29.
Electronic waste (e-waste) is a growing health and environmental concern in developing countries. In the sub-Saharan African region e-waste is considered a crisis with no end in sight yet; there is lack of structures and regulations to manage the problem. In this article, we discuss the potential of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in addressing the health, environmental, and social impacts of e-waste in sub-Saharan Africa. We draw from environmental policy, environmental communication, global health policy, and health communication to argue that managing e-waste could be framed as ongoing HIA where all the steps of HIA are performed on a rolling basis with input from local communities. Further, we suggest that HIA should be infused into recycling legislation to help streamline the practice in order to make it safe for health and the environment and to maximize the economic benefits.
电子垃圾（电子废弃物）在发展中国家正日益引发健康和环境问题。在撒哈拉以南非洲地区，电子垃圾被视为一场看不到尽头的危机；缺乏管理该问题的架构和法规。在本文中，我们探讨了健康影响评估（HIA）在应对撒哈拉以南非洲地区电子垃圾的健康、环境和社会影响方面的潜力。我们借鉴环境政策、环境传播、全球健康政策和健康传播来论证，管理电子垃圾可被构建为持续的健康影响评估，即健康影响评估的所有步骤在当地社区的参与下滚动开展。此外，我们建议应将健康影响评估纳入回收利用立法，以帮助简化实践，使其对健康和环境安全，并实现经济效益最大化。
