Question

-Discuss impacts of environmental health and the relationship to risk.

-Provide examples of the social, cultural, political, and economic impacts of environmental health problems

Answer 1

ENVIRONMENT

Environment is the total of the natural conditions under which animals live, including climatic, geographic, physiographic and faunal conditions; all that which is external to the individual human host.

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

• Environmental health comprises those aspects of human health, including quality of life, that are determined by physical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors in the environment.
• It also refers to the theory and practice of assessing, correcting, controlling, and preventing those factors in the environment that can potentially affect adversely the health of present and future generations.

FACTORS INFLUENCING ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

1.Physical:

–Air, water, soil, flora, fauna, housing, climate, geography, heat,light, noise, debris, etc.

–Air pollutants, smoke, toxic gases, toxic effluents, pesticides etc.

a)Health issues of contaminated water

•Acute and chronic toxic effect of chemicalpollutants

•Diseases associated with inadequate use of water

•Dental health problem

•Vector borne disease: Malaria, Dengue, filariaetc.

•Cardiovascular disease: hardness of water havebeneficial effect on hardness of Water

-Water born disesses occurance,including,

• Viral:Hepatitis A & E, Poliomyelitis, Rotavirusdiarrhea, SARS, Dengue fever
• Bacterial:Cholera,BacillaryDysentery,Typhoidfever, Salmonella & E.Coliinfection
• Protozoal:Amoebiasis, Giardiasis, Malaria
• Helminthic:Roundworm, Thread worm, Hydiatiddisease
• Snail:Schistosomiasis
• Cyclops:Guinea worm, Fish tape worm

b) Health problems related to air pollution

• CO:CO poisoning, depleted oxygen supply to heart brain and other vital organs, headache, fatigue, dizziness , drowsiness, nausea
• CO2: headache, dizziness, difficulty in breathing, sweating, tiredness, increase heart rate, blood pressure, coma, asphyxia, convulsions
• SO2;very toxic if inhaled, severe irritation of nose,skin and eyes, blindness, pulmonary edema,tightness in chest, asthma, inflame respiratorysystem
• Pregnancy related problems ;problems in pregnancy, harm to fetus, fertilityissues, hypertension, digestive disorders, nerve disorders, memory loss, muscle and joint pain
• Cardiovascular disorders ;affects cardiovascular and reproductive system, kidneys, eyes and brain
• H2S;small exposure can cause irritation to eyes,nose or throat, increase difficulty for asthmatics
• O3; can damage lungs, chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, hard breathing, worsen asthmatics
• Premature death with heart & lungdiseases,heart attacks, irregular heartbeat, aggravatedasthma, difficulty in breathing, coughing

c) Effects of Noise Exposure on Health

1. Non Auditory Effects - Stress, physiological & behavioural changes -Hypertension, Sleep disturbances, other cardiovascular impacts

2. Auditory Effects - Acoustic trauma - tinnitus - temporary & permanent hearing loss

2.Biological:

–Virus, bacteria and other microbes, insects, rodents, animalsand plants

–Disease producing agents, reservoir of infection, intermediatehost and reservoirs of infection

• Zoonotic diseses

Anthrax ,Bird-flue,Foot and mouth disease,Rabies,Tuberculosis, Tetnus

• Mosquito born diseses

Malaria,West Nile Virus,Zika,Dengue,Yellow fever,Chikungunya

3.Social/psychosocial/socioeconomic:

–Culture, values, customs, habits, morals, religions, education,lifestyle, community life, health services, social and politicalorganizations.

SECTION 2

Provide examples of the social, cultural, political, and economic impacts of environmental health problems

a) Social factors

• Social participation and integration in the immediate social environment (e.g., school, work, neighborhood) appear to be important to both mental and physical health
• social determinant of health is the extent, strength, and quality of our social connections with others.
• Two social variables are of particular interest in characterizing social relationships:

1. social networks ;Social networks are defined as the web of person-centered social ties . Its assessment includes the structural aspects of social relationships, such as size , density ,, boundedness, and homogeneity.
2. social support ;social support refers to the various types of assistance that people receive from their social networks and can be further differentiated into three types: instrumental, emotional, and informational support.​​​​​​​

• Instrumental support refers to the tangible resources that people receive from their social networks,
• emotional support includes less tangible forms of assistance that make people feel cared for and loved
• Informational support refers to the social support that people receive in the form of valuable information, such as advice about healthy diets or tips about a new cancer screening test.

b)cultural impacts

• Traditions, religion, beliefs, and other cultural practices make up your culture
• In some cultures, women may be reluctant to receive treatment from male doctors due to religious concerns. This may cause them to delay seeking treatment, refuse examinations, or choose not to be seen at all. If they are already at a doctor's office or hospital, they may choose to wait until a female doctor can see them. In an emergency situation, this may have severe consequences for her health.

c) Political Factors

The main factors which influence environmental health are,

• Government type and stability
• Freedom of press, rule of law and levels of bureaucracy and
  corruption
• Regulation and de-regulation trends
• Social and employment legislation
• Tax policy, and trade and tariff controls
• Environmental and consumer-protection legislation
• Likely changes in the political environment

d) economic factors or impacts

• The environmental impact of economic growth includes the increased consumption of non-renewable resources, higher levels of pollution, global warming and the potential loss of environmental habitats.
• The impact of climate change on numerous important issues—water resources, transport, migration, violent conflict, energy supply, space cooling, labor productivity, and tourism and recreation—has not received sufficient attention; there is either very little solid evidence, no conclusive evidence, or no quantification of welfare impacts

The factors mainly influencing the economy and environment are,

• Unemployment and labour supply
• Labour costs
• Levels of disposable income and income distribution
• Impact of globalisation
• Likely impact of technological or other change on the economy
• Likely changes in the economic environment