Recognizing Impact: Elias Nyanza

Elias Charles Nyanza is an international PhD student in the Community Health Sciences program.  He proposal title is “Exposure to arsenic and mercury: associated pregnancy outcomes, and early infant developmental outcomes in gold mining areas in Tanzania”.

Exposure to arsenic and mercury through artisanal and small-scale gold mining is an under-explored yet salient issue in Tanzania. Mining operations are known to expose the entire community including vulnerable pregnant women and children, to arsenic and mercury via the water they drink, the food they eat, the soil that their food is grown and the air they breathe. Prenatal exposure to arsenic and mercury is associated with reproductive risk factors including still birth, low birth weight, and congenital anomalies, and with poorer developmental outcomes in the children. Therefore, this study uses a longitudinal prospective approach to examine an association between level of exposure prenatally to arsenic andmercury and reproductive risk, and early developmental outcomes in mining communities in Tanzania.

Women who participated in the study are now aware of their levels of exposure and potential risks for exposure.  They have also been advised on nutritional interventions that could improve their health status and that of their young children. The results from this study are being shared with stakeholders in public health and environmental protection.  Initial results support a call for initiatives to develop and implement culturally appropriate educational programs for women and the community-at large on the effects of mercury and arsenic exposure on health and children’s development.  These initiatives could be delivered at local health care centers, community health meetings, and in schools, and would enable the community to take ownership of health promotion initiatives related to mercury and arsenic exposure.

This study will establish baseline levels of exposure among women who live in mining communities and gather data on birth outcomes to provide more evidence that could support policy changes that reduce mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Tanzania, protect water sources and improve preventive measures. Such changes in policy could result in improved birth and developmental outcomes for children living in these communities. Working with our partners in Tanzania, we intend to build important evidence to attract considerable attention of the public, policy makers, decision-makers, and the research community to prioritize efforts to reduce or even eliminate prenatal exposure to these contaminants by promoting sound   environmental and occupational management.