RIASSUNTO
Abstract
Health Impact Assessment (HIA) as part of Environmental Impact Assessment commenced in SPDC in 1998 with the pilot HIA of Forcados Terminal Integrated Project (FTIP). A review of the health status (with a focus on infectious diseases), hazards and services was made to set a baseline for monitoring changes over time, assess the impact and develop control strategies thereby contributing to sustainable development. Results indicate that monitoring, health surveillance and education, waste management and follow-ups are necessary to ensure effective health management through proactive impact elimination and or mitigation. The main findings of the study show that environmental health systems were poor. Health care is purely curative. The most prevalent infectious diseases are malaria, respiratory tract infections, sexually transmitted diseases, diarrhoea and skin infections. Positive health impacts include enhanced social economics, improved nutrition, water and electricity, improved quality of life and better medical care. The health impacts identified in this study are controllable, preventable or curable. Following this study, HIA's for 3 other projects were commenced in 1999 including assessment of possible physical and chemical exposures from the projects.
As a policy, HIA is now an integral part of EIA.
Introduction
The Health Impact Assessment (HIA) was conducted for Forcados Terminal Integrated Project (FTIP) in SPDC Nigeria.
The Forcados Terminal is located in the swamps of the southern bank of the Forcados River, 47 km west of Warri town in the delta area of Nigeria. It provides crude oil dehydration, storage and export facilities primarily for the Western Division of SPDC (operator NNPC/ Shell/ Elf/ Agip Joint Venture). The Terminal was constructed in the late 1960s and commissioned in 1970 and consists of a core zone containing the tank farm and associated processing/ export facilities and a secondary zone containing the accommodation and logistics infrastructure. Having operated for over 25 years, the Terminal was upgraded due to age, obsolescence and maintenance difficulties of the primary facilities. The objectives of the FTIP are to maintain the technical integrity of the Terminal and establish an acceptable level of reliability for the next 25 years of operation and to increase the dehydration capacity in order to accommodate increasing water production.
The construction started in 1994 and was completed in 1998. At the peak of the project there were between 2500 and 3000 workers on site. Within the vicinity of Forcados Terminal along the northern and southern banks of the Forcados Estuary are a number of fishing ports, villages and towns. The major communities surrounding the Forcados Terminal site are mentioned in table 1.
Ogulagha town, which is the most exposed to the project, is located at the mouth of the Forcados Estuary and bounded on the North by the Forcados river, on the West by the Forcados estuary, on the East by the secondary zone of the Forcados Terminal, on the South by creeks and forest.
The Terminal is on the same Island as the villages.
The nearest is Ogulagha community at 3 km away. The Ogulagha indigenes are from the Ijaw ethnic group.