CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Environmental health concepts focus on preventing disease by controlling hazards in the environment and promoting healthier conditions.
Key concepts include identifying physical, chemical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors that affect health, understanding their impact, and applying preventative measures through public policy and community initiatives. This involves addressing issues like air and water pollution, hazardous chemicals, and climate change to protect population health, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups like children
Key
Concepts
- Environmental
Determinants of Health:
Recognizes the physical, chemical, biological, social, and
psychosocial factors in the environment that influence human health.
- Exposure
to Hazards:
Involves identifying and assessing harmful exposures from
sources like air pollution, contaminated water, and industrial chemicals.
- Preventative
Action:
Focuses on preventing disease from developing rather than
treating it, by removing or controlling environmental hazards.
- Public
Health Approach:
Addresses health at the population level by developing
public policy and community programs to create healthier settings.
- Interconnectedness:
Understands that human health and the environment are
intrinsically linked, with changes in one impacting the other.
Types of Environmental Hazards
Environmental health hazards are typically categorized as:
- Physical
Hazards: Such as noise pollution, extreme temperatures, and
radiation.
- Biological
Hazards: Involving disease-causing microorganisms like bacteria
and viruses.
- Chemical
Hazards: Exposure to toxic chemicals found in the air, water, and
consumer products.
- Social
Hazards: Related to social factors like poverty, conflict, and
occupational hazards.
Examples of Environmental Health Impacts
- Air
Pollution: Increases the risk of lung cancer, heart disease, and
childhood asthma.
- Water
Pollution: Can lead to infectious diseases and other health
issues.
- Climate
Change: Contributes to food insecurity, water scarcity, and
changing patterns of infectious diseases.
Why it Matters
- Population
Health:
Environmental health efforts aim to reduce the incidence of
disease across entire communities.
- Vulnerable
Populations:
Children, in particular, are uniquely vulnerable to
environmental hazards and climate-driven disasters, highlighting the need for
focused protection.
- Sustainable
Development:
Promoting a clean and healthy environment is crucial for the
long-term well-being of individuals and communities.
Environmental health is a field of public health that
studies and manages the relationship between people and their environment to
promote human health and well-being and prevent disease. It operates on several
core concepts and principles.
Core concepts of environmental health
- Environment
and health link: This foundational concept recognizes that the
physical, chemical, and biological factors in a person's surroundings
directly influence their health. For example, contaminated water can cause
diarrheal diseases, while air pollution can lead to respiratory illnesses
and cardiovascular problems.
- Risk
factors and interventions: Environmental health identifies
environmental risk factors for disease and applies interventions to
prevent and control them.
- At
the source: A strategy might be to prevent contamination at its
origin, such as burying human waste to prevent open defecation.
- In
the environment: Interventions can focus on the transmission
pathways, like using safe drinking water and controlling disease vectors
such as mosquitoes.
- At
the individual (host): Education and vaccination are tools used to
protect the individual from becoming infected.
- The
exposome: This concept represents the totality of an individual's
environmental exposures and their resulting biological responses over a
lifetime, starting from conception. It moves beyond a "one exposure,
one disease" approach to acknowledge that people are exposed to a
complex mixture of factors, including chemicals, stress, and infections.
- Vulnerable
populations: Certain groups, such as children, are more susceptible to
environmental hazards. For instance, children are more vulnerable to
chemical exposures because their bodies are still developing and they have
greater exposure relative to their body size.
- Environmental
hazards: These are agents or conditions that can endanger human health
and life. They are typically categorized as:
- Physical:
Includes hazards like noise, radiation, extreme temperatures, and
ergonomic risks.
- Biological:
Organisms or their by-products that are harmful, such as bacteria,
viruses, and parasites.
- Chemical:
Harmful chemicals in the form of gases, solids, or liquids, such as
pesticides, lead, and industrial solvents.
- Social
and cultural: Factors like poverty, illiteracy, and certain cultural
practices that negatively affect health.
- Ecological
models of health: These models consider health outcomes as the result
of dynamic interactions within a nested hierarchy of factors, including
the individual, family, community, and ecosystem. This holistic approach
recognizes the complex, multi-level nature of many health challenges.
- Determinants
of health: Both social and environmental factors are understood to
have a major influence on health. The commercial determinants of
health—private-sector activities affecting health—are also included in
this concept.
Foundational principles
- Environmental
justice: This principle recognizes that marginalized communities often
bear a disproportionate burden of environmental harms. It asserts that
everyone has a right to a healthy environment, regardless of their
socioeconomic status.
- The
"Polluter Pays" principle: This principle holds that those
who generate pollution should bear the costs of the damage they cause. It
serves as an economic incentive to reduce harmful activities and promote
safer practices.
- The
Precautionary Principle: This approach states that when an activity
poses a threat of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary
measures should be taken even if a cause-and-effect relationship is not
yet scientifically proven.
- Sustainability:
The pursuit of sustainable practices is a core tenet, defined as meeting
present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own.
Key terms in environmental health are often derived from its
core fields of environmental toxicology, epidemiology, and risk assessment
. The following is a glossary of fundamental terminology
used in the discipline.
Environmental health uses terms from fields like toxicology,
epidemiology, and risk assessment. Key terms include:
General terms
- Abiotic:
Non-living environmental elements.
- Anthropogenic:
Effects from human actions.
- Biodiversity:
The variety of life in an environment, essential for ecosystem health.
- Contaminant:
A substance that can harm the environment or health.
- Ecosystem:
Interacting community of organisms and their environment.
- Environmental
justice: Working towards equal access to a healthy environment and
regulation enforcement for all.
- Environmental
media: Air, water, and soil where a substance is found.
- Hazard:
A potential source of harm.
- Heavy
metals: Toxic metallic elements such as lead or mercury.
- Indicator:
A factor used to evaluate the status of a system, like population health
relative to environmental factors.
- Particulate
matter (PM): Small airborne particles (dust, smoke) causing health
issues.
Toxicology and exposure terms
- Bioaccumulation:
An organism building up increasing concentrations of a substance over
time.
- Biomagnification:
Increased substance concentration higher up the food chain.
- Biomonitoring:
Measuring chemicals in biological samples to check exposure.
- Dose-response
relationship: How the intensity of a toxic effect relates to the dose.
- Exposure
pathway: How a contaminant travels from its source to a receptor
population, encompassing the source, environmental media, exposure point
and route, and receptor population.
- Ecotoxicology:
The study of chemical effects on ecosystems.
- Toxicology:
The study of harmful chemical effects on organisms.
Risk assessment and epidemiology terms
- Prevalence:
The percentage of a population with a condition at a specific time.
- Risk
assessment: Estimating potential harm to health or the environment.
- Risk characterization: The final phase of risk assessment, detailing the estimated risk.
Key terms in environmental health are often derived from its
core fields of environmental toxicology, epidemiology, and risk assessment
. The following is a glossary of fundamental terminology
used in the discipline.
Environmental health uses terms from fields like toxicology,
epidemiology, and risk assessment. Key terms include:
General terms
- Abiotic:
Non-living environmental elements.
- Anthropogenic:
Effects from human actions.
- Biodiversity:
The variety of life in an environment, essential for ecosystem health.
- Contaminant:
A substance that can harm the environment or health.
- Ecosystem:
Interacting community of organisms and their environment.
- Environmental
justice: Working towards equal access to a healthy environment and
regulation enforcement for all.
- Environmental
media: Air, water, and soil where a substance is found.
- Hazard:
A potential source of harm.
- Heavy
metals: Toxic metallic elements such as lead or mercury.
- Indicator:
A factor used to evaluate the status of a system, like population health
relative to environmental factors.
- Particulate
matter (PM): Small airborne particles (dust, smoke) causing health
issues.
𝑃𝑀2.5
refers to particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers.
Toxicology and exposure terms
- Bioaccumulation:
An organism building up increasing concentrations of a substance over
time.
- Biomagnification:
Increased substance concentration higher up the food chain.
- Biomonitoring:
Measuring chemicals in biological samples to check exposure.
- Dose-response
relationship: How the intensity of a toxic effect relates to the dose.
- Exposure
pathway: How a contaminant travels from its source to a receptor
population, encompassing the source, environmental media, exposure point
and route, and receptor population.
- Ecotoxicology:
The study of chemical effects on ecosystems.
- Toxicology:
The study of harmful chemical effects on organisms.
Risk assessment and epidemiology terms
- Prevalence:
The percentage of a population with a condition at a specific time.
- Risk
assessment: Estimating potential harm to health or the environment.
- Risk
characterization: The final phase of risk assessment, detailing the
estimated risk.