Integrating Population, Health, and Environment in Tanzania

B R i n g i n g I n f o r m a t i o n t o D e c i s i o n m a k e r s f o r G l o b a l E f f e c t i v e n e s s The number of people, where they live, and how they live, all affect the condition of the environment. People alter the environment by clearing land for development, using natural resources, and producing wastes. Changes in environmental conditions, in turn, affect human health and well-being. Rural poverty, a high population growth rate, deforestation, and fresh water scarcity, for example, all pose challenges for policymakers in Tanzania and elsewhere in Africa (see table, page 2). While links among population, health, and the environment are sometimes acknowledged in national-level policies and development strategies, most development efforts continue to employ a traditional sectoral approach, aligned with the division of government services and institutional structures. In doing so, opportunities for achieving superior results—in cost-effectiveness, programmatic and administrative efficiencies, and programmatic outcomes—by employing an integrated, holistic approach may be missed.