Page 126 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Fall 2015

An Ongoing Series

This Is Africa

April R. Verlo, MSPH, REHS/RS; Hugh H. Bailey, PE; Martin R. Cook

ABSTRACT

Military deployments will always result in exposure to the Special Operations Forces (SOF) deployed to Africa.
health hazards other than those from combat opera- Facing these uncertain health risks can result in acute dis-
tions. The occupational and environmental health and eases that immediately impact mission accomplishment,
endemic disease health risks are greater to the Special as well as potential long-term health effects and chronic
Operations Forces (SOF) deployed to the challenging diseases. Force Health Protection (FHP) is the framework
conditions in Africa than elsewhere in the world. SOF to optimize force health readiness and protect personnel
are deployed to locations that lack life support infra- from occupational and environmental health threats as-
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structures that have become standard for most military sociated with deployments and military service. A pri-
deployments; instead, they rely on local resources to sus- mary goal of FHP is to anticipate, identify, prioritize,
tain operations. Particularly, SOF in Africa do not gen- assess, and mitigate potential health risks, as well as pro-
erally have access to advanced diagnostic or monitoring vide medical capabilities and intelligence that relate to the
capabilities or to medical treatment in austere locations operational environment. Early involvement of FHP or
that lack environmental or public health regulation. medical personnel in planning efforts is of particular use
The keys to managing potential adverse health effects to support logistics planning and to communicate health
lie in identifying and documenting the health hazards risks to the commander to support the decision cycle
and exposures, characterizing the associated risks, and and overall risk assessment prior to deployment. Assess-
communicating the risks to commanders, deployed per- ments also serve to document environmental conditions
sonnel, and operational planners. or deployment-related exposures to support the diagnosis
of future health outcomes and can improve a deployed
Keywords: Africa, health risk assessment, food and water, team’s local health service support plan. 2
occupational and environmental health, site survey
There is no blanket health risk assessment or risk analy-
sis formula for Africa. Each location presents a unique
set of conditions that can result in a number of potential
Introduction
health outcomes that need to be considered. The way
Africa is an incredibly diverse continent with a wide personnel identify and begin to evaluate these risks is
range of cultures, climates, conditions, and communi- through various types of site assessments that serve vari-
ties. Modernization is taking place at a rapid rate in ous purposes.
some locales; others remain true to a very basic way
of life. These significant differences create health pro- Assessment Types
tection and health risk issues for deployed forces. Re-
gardless of development, many nations still struggle to FHP assessments cover a large range of areas, including
provide basic goods and services to their populations or industrial hygiene; environmental threats; vector threats,
lack enforceable environmental or public health laws. food safety and sanitation; water safety and sanitation;
waste management; blood safety; laboratory capability;
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The simple lack of development, or development that air quality; and infectious disease management. Hospi-
outpaces regulation, can create the potential for signifi- tal surveys, site suitability assessments, training needs
cant health hazards. These conditions are concerning to assessments, and others all have specific requirements.

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