Impact of ethnic conflict on the nutritional status and quality of life of suburban villagers in the Solomon Islands.

This paper describes the health and nutritional status and quality of life (QOL) of suburban villagers in the Solomon Islands 3 y after the 1998-2003 ethnic conflict. Cross-sectional data were obtained from a small community located 50 km east of the capital city (n=206, 87 adults and 119 children). A health survey involving urine analysis, anthropometry, and blood pressure measurements was conducted to assess health and nutritional status and child growth. Simultaneously, 57 non-randomly selected adults participated in the QOL questionnaire survey. Results of anthropometry show that participants had good health and nutritional status (mean BMIs: 22.8 and 21.7 for men and women, respectively) and 73% of boys and 83% of girls were judged `normal body size' based on their BMI values. Urinalysis revealed that 88% of the participants were healthy and indicated that they consumed considerable amounts of purchased food such as rice and tinned meat. These findings suggest that the population's lifestyle had essentially recovered from the ethnic conflict. However, possible consequences of the ethnic conflict on the QOL scores were observed in the environmental domain. This study found a positive association between body fat and QOL. This could be interpreted in terms of the traditionally positive view of large bodies in the South Pacific and as resulting from unstable social conditions prevailing after the ethnic conflict.

Genetic evidence for Plasmodium falciparum resistance to chloroquine and pyrimethamine in Indochina and the Western Pacific between 1984 and 1998.

Plasmodium falciparum resistance to chloroquine and pyrimethamine is widely distributed in malaria-endemic areas. The origin and geographic spread of this drug resistance have been inferred mainly from records of clinical resistance (treatment failure). Identification of the Plasmodium falciparum chloroqunie resistance transporter (pfcrt) gene and the dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr) gene as target genes of chloroquine and pyrimethamine, respectively, has made it possible to trace the history of genetic resistance to these two drugs. However, evidence for genetic resistance has been limited because of scarcity of archival specimens. We examined genotypes of pfcrt and dhfr in Indochina (Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos) and the Western Pacific (the Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea) between 1984 and 1998 by testing samples obtained from malaria cases imported to Japan. Results show that 96% (28 of 29) and 77% (20 of 26) of samples had resistant genotypes of pfcrt and dhfr, respectively, substantiating the inferred history of clinical resistance in these geographic areas during this period.