Residential areas and public health: the case of chikungunya in Reunion Island
Residential areas (neighborhoods, gardens, houses) have a significant impact on public health. This is illustrated by the chikungunya epidemic that raged in Reunion in 2005 and 2006. During the period when the epidemic was at its height, the local people had to re-examine their usual relationships with their residential areas and in particular with their gardens. Our research analyses the behaviour of the local population in response to the epidemic: their relationship with their environment, the maintenance and care of their gardens and the different perceptions of the disease. Certain socio-demographic variables indicate that, while chikungunya is a vector-borne disease transmitted by mosquitos, disparities between individuals continue to exist with regard to the disease. Moreover, residential areas can have an influence on public health, because of people’s relationships with these environments, as well as the particular ways such environments are organized within neighbourhoods.