For the environment to support health, it depends on how we act with it. In this way, we take responsibility for the health of our community.

When we talk about health, we must keep in mind that people go out to the sea to work. When people are in good health, they can protect the reserve. We created the reserve to increase our catches. If the reserve is weak then catches decline and there are problems: scarcity of seafood leads to poverty and malnutrition.

I started using contraception after my second child and following four miscarriages. I decided to use it to create a little space in my life. It’s better when you have more freedom. When children are raised well, you don’t have to take so much care of them any more. You can go to the fields and do the usual work. I feel good. I am healthy.

What more can I ask than to go to work and achieve my personal goals. If the coral reefs are destroyed, there will be no more fish. If there are no more fish, our life is extinguished. And when diseases come, we would not be able to get out of this situation because we would have no money.

When people choose to use contraception, environmental protection goes well. If I have 10 children while my land yields only two sacks of rice, I will not be able to feed them. My children might be tempted to enter protected areas during the lean season. They would destroy not only our own life, but the life of a whole community.

What I gained from using a contraceptive method is the ability to do all of the activities I want. No more struggles. I can contribute to meeting our needs.

A healthy population, a community {fokontany} in development, a protected environment. This is the winning trio for me.

Mangrove increases production. The growth of mangrove protects all of the life that is inside : shrimps, crabs and some fish. In addition, it stores natural products such as honey. All of our life.

Health and the environment are interdependent. Our youth association is mobilised to improve the environment and health at the same time, the latrines, and not to throw trash in the street. All this to ensure community health.

Let’s talk about the spacing of births so that we don’t destroy things. Otherwise we may adopt bad practices to take care of our children. We may disregard customary ways of caring for the environment in order to feed our little ones.

I think that health and the environment are one. It is through the environment that we breathe purely. We have our resources such as water and especially drinking water.

Before, I struggled to make ends meet to take care of my home. By using contraception, I’m able to take care of my children and to feed them well. I would like them to have a better future. That’s why they are fewer of them.

Life comes from the environment. Everything is the environment. The air we breathe, the cleanliness, the trees, everything.

The environment is everything that makes us live : water, mangrove forest … If the environment is destroyed, the next generations will have hard time surviving, no means for livelihood.

A healthy environment ensures people’s health.

The protection of the environment contributes to people’s health and to the health of farm animals.

We’re thinking mostly about our health while combining clove nursery sales and the establishment of fishery reserves. We have increased our revenues. We put some into a community box to ensure the health of people.

If the forest is destroyed, by slash-and-burn or other practices that it should have been protected against, water sources will be broken and our life with it.

From the moment we started protecting the environment, our health improved. The community-managed fishery is flourishing and produces a lot.

We cannot separate people, health and the environment. They are linked to one another. The fact that people steal from tree nurseries is already a proof that they like them – it’s not to destroy them. They steal to plant.

The environment is among the things that help us stay healthy. They are complementary. Water is a source of life. If we cut the trees on the uplands, the water will disappear.

For me the most significant changes are reforestation and rice growing. When you produce, you can have healthy life. If not, the diseases come.

The degradation of the environment will have strong impact on the health of the population. We could catch different diseases, rain water will be missing, the weather will become dry, the water points will dry up.

We need reforestation whether on the plateaus or in the sea. Taking the mangroves destroys the seashore. It kills the fish that hatch their eggs inside, seafood decreases and so does our income.

There is not enough water when the trees are missing. Trees protect the crops. A green land is good for agriculture. Good food and rainwater provide for the wellbeing of people.

Health comes from the environment, from the forest. We do not only talk about the sea.

The environment is a part of our health. If these positive links between health and the environment continue, our children won’t be in difficulty and the climate will become as before.

Trees improve the quality of crops and provide us with water. If people run out of water, they die. A healthy person can go to work and support themself.

If the trees did not exist, the air we breathe would be polluted. The forest has positive impacts on us. Polluted gases are produced by human beings. The forest makes the air pure.

People suffer when the environment is destroyed. All our means for subsistence are dissolved. Then comes poverty. There is almost no food. We get sick. Healthy people are full of energy.

Mangroves provide benefits. Fish and crabs come from there. All products that make us live. They are for us a source of income.

I’ve liked seeing tangible changes. We stopped bad habits. The corals have grown and the fish come back to these places which means that they have something to eat again. We can fish and provide for our needs.

The forest is like a barrier. But there are still those who are reluctant to restore mangroves, to plant trees, yet when the disease strikes, it hits everyone without exception.

Diseases and all our worries, we know that all of this is the result of not having protected the environment.

Trees on the highlands provide many benefits. The forest was destroyed before. So the highland soil pours into the rice fields. The trees that were supposed to retain the soil were no longer there. No rice cultivation is possible.

I think health will improve a lot if we protect the environment. The number of sick person decreases with the number of charcoal makers.