Question

What do you see as the most important environmental or occupational concern in public health today and why? Support your answer with a documented RELIABLE reference from the Internet. Provide the URL for your source at the end of your discussion.

Answer 1

Public health refers to the art of preventing illness in the specific population and promoting their well-being. It focuses on improving the quality of living in the community by rendering environment free of air pollution, water pollution. Promoting injury prevention, risk reduction, prevention of spread of infectious diseases.

The most important environmental or occupational concern in public health today is air pollution.Growing population and emerging industries contributes to increase air pollutants that results in serious health hazards in public.

Biological hazards refers to exposure of human beings to harmful pathogens like bacteria, virus, fungi. The common diseases occurs secondary to biological hazards are tuberculosis, vector borne diseases like malaria, filaria, leptospirosis,worm infestations,dengue, COVID 19.

Exposure to certain harmful chemicals leads to physical hazards. Exposure to excessive ultraviolet rays causes cataract and skin cancer. Exposure to natural disasters like earthquake, volcanoes, tornadoes, man-made disasters, hurricanes also causes marked physical and economic destruction to man kind.

Water pollution a major issues interfering with human health like ingesting contaminated water causes diarrhea, cholera.

Air pollution contributes to upper and lower respiratory tract infections like bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis, tuberculosis,lung cancer,acute respiratory failure.