Environmental Health Narratives
Environmental Health Narratives
A Reader for Youth
Andrew woke up with a guinea worm coming out of his foot as a result of drinking unsafe water a year previously.
Anjali awoke with a cough because smoke from kilns filled her dilapidated home.
Tyler stayed home from school because he had a stomachache from eating bad beef.
What are the links between the environments in which these young people live and their health problems?
The stories, most set in poor communities, draw attention to the effects of air, water, food, climate, urbanization, and other human impacts on health. A comprehensive teaching guide provides a context from which readers can explore problems and solutions in environmental health.
Emily Mendenhall, a medical anthropologist, is the editor of Global Health Narratives: A Reader for Youth (UNM Press, 2009) and founding director of Global Health Narratives for Change (www.ghn4c.org).
Adam Koon works in global health program management and research. Lately he has been working on guinea worm and polio eradication campaigns in South Sudan and India.
