From the quality of the air, you breathe to the condition of the roads you drive on. environmental factors that affect human health can have a major impact on your health. According to the data, more than 100 diseases and injuries be directly linked to environmental health problems.
Environmental health professionals examine how people interact with the world around them and note the many ways these interactions can affect physical fitness, vulnerability to disease, and other aspects of human health.
In this article, we explore eight key environmental factors that affect human health that affect health:
- Chemical safety
- Air pollution
- Climate change and natural disasters
- Diseases caused by microbes
- Inadequate access to healthcare
- Infrastructure issues
- Poor water quality
- Global environmental problems
Why is Environmental Health Important?
Through efforts to improve environmental health, public health professionals improve the personal well-being of families and communities.
Benefits of optimizing environmental health
Maintaining a healthy environment is essential to help people live longer and improve their quality of life. Consider the sobering statistic from Healthy People. That states that 23% of all deaths (and 26% of deaths in children age 5 and younger). These are caused by completely preventable environmental health problems.
These environmental factors that affect human health continue to adversely affect them.
Consider, for example, the looming problem of climate change. Environmental health researchers say climate change may lead to altered disease patterns that make communities vulnerable to various diseases. In addition, climate change is associated with an increase in floods, wildfires, and superstorms. It plays a major role in harming human health.
Environmental Health As a Community Health Problem
Environmental factors that affect human health is not just a matter of individual health; it is also about the welfare of society. Simply put, the conditions in and around our homes, schools, playgrounds, and workplaces can have a big impact on our families and neighbors.
For example, factors such as pollution and litter can make residents less inclined to go outside for exercise and recreation, potentially making the entire community more susceptible to disease.
Aspects of the built Environmental factors that affect human health is not just a matter of individual health; it is also about the welfare of society. Simply put, the conditions in and around our homes, schools, playgrounds, and workplaces can have a big impact on our families and neighbors. also affect community health. For example, areas with poorly maintained roads have a higher risk of traffic accidents resulting in people injuries, and inadequate sanitation infrastructure can increase the local population’s disease prevalence.
Environmental Health Resources
To learn more about the importance of Aspects of the built Environmental factors that affect human health is not just a matter of individual health; it is also about the welfare of society. Simply put, the conditions in and around our homes, schools, playgrounds, and workplaces can have a big impact on our families and neighbors. also affect community health. For example, areas with poorly maintained roads have a higher risk of traffic accidents resulting in people injuries, and inadequate sanitation infrastructure can increase the local population’s disease prevalence., check out the following resources:
World Health Organization, Environmental Health — An overview of some of the issues related to environmental health.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health — Range of resources related to environmental health.
It is not only important to strive for optimal environmental health. It is also beneficial, both for individuals and their surrounding communities. Some benefits include cleaner air quality, cleaner water, reduced hazardous waste, improved access to healthy food, safer outdoor environments for adults and children, improved population health, and improved health equity.
8 environmental factors that affect your health
A number of specific environmental issues can hinder human health and wellness. These problems include chemical pollution, air pollution, climate change, disease-causing microbes, inadequate access to health care, poor infrastructure, and poor water quality.
1. Chemical Safety
Different chemicals can affect human health in different ways, and exposure to hazardous or foreign substances often creates health vulnerabilities. The field of chemical safety deals with minimizing the effects of natural and synthetic chemicals.
More specifically, chemical safety seeks to protect human health and the environment from exposure to potential toxins; it focuses on chemicals that exist in the surrounding world as well as synthetic chemicals that are used in industrial processes or are by-products of manufacturing activity.
Public health officials who work in chemical safety often focus on toxicology, which is the study of substances that have a toxic effect on the human body, either through ingestion or absorption through the natural environment. Another important aspect of public health is chemical risk assessment, which involves scientists and clinicians working to determine the full biological effects of a substance.
This is a critical public health area: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1.6 million deaths were caused by exposure to selected chemicals in 2016. Some examples of hazardous chemicals in the environment are heavy metals and toxins that enter the water supply and harmful pesticides that enter the food chain.
2. Air Pollution
Research shows that the effects of air pollution are a major concern for human life. Not only is it a problem because of its role in climate change, but air pollution can also increase morbidity and mortality.
When environmental scientists talk about air pollution, they describe any solid or liquid particles, as well as gasses, that are suspended in the air and have harmful or poisonous effects.
When we think about air pollution, we tend to think in terms of human-made pollutants, and rightly so: The most dangerous and ubiquitous examples of air pollution include car and truck exhaust, as well as the polluting byproducts of industrial processes. . However, many natural air pollutants can cause health problems; for example, pollen and mold spores are often associated with asthma and allergies.
According to the WHO, the effects of air pollution on humans are significant. For example, air pollution causes:
- 29% of all global deaths from lung disease
- 24% of all global stroke deaths
- 17% of all global deaths and illnesses are caused by acute lower respiratory tract infections
- 3. Climate change and natural disasters
Another environmental problem with serious consequences for human health is climate change, along with the increase in natural disasters that have accompanied climate change on Earth. The National Environmental Health Association lists climate change as the greatest threat to human health in the 21st century.
3. Climate Change Disrupts For Best Environment
The natural world in many ways can threaten the health and increase vulnerability to disease; these include an increase in the planet’s temperature and more frequent heavy rains and water runoff. Various impacts can result in greater vulnerability to nervous and respiratory illnesses, diarrhea, and more.
In addition, climate change increases the frequency of natural disasters, which often have a devastating impact on homes and communities and sometimes lead to loss of life. Forest fires, hurricanes, cyclones, and drought.
4. Diseases Caused By Microbes
Diseases caused by microbes – also known as microorganisms – represent another area of public health. There are trillions of microbes in the human body and they also live in water, soil, and air. Most have no negative health effects, and many microbes serve important biological functions, such as supporting digestive and immune health, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute.
Harmful microbes, more commonly called pathogens or germs, can infect humans and cause disease. Eating is one of the primary ways that people can contract diseases caused by microbes. One example is food poisoning from E. coli, a type of bacteria found in the environment and in food that can cause respiratory illnesses, urinary tract infections, and other adverse health effects.
A number of harmful microbes also live in the soil. Humans can come into contact with them by ingesting them (via contaminated food) or by inhaling them (via soil particles in the air). Tetanus and botulism are examples of diseases caused by soil microbes.
5. Inadequate Access To Environmental Factors that Affect Human Health
Another environmental factor that causes the disease is people living in areas where overall health service systems are inadequate.
According to Healthy People, many people face barriers that limit access to health care services, which lead to poor health outcomes and risk to optimal health” Some factors that contribute to lack of access to health care are economic instability, unreliable transportation to clinical facilities and a simple lack of education about the importance of preventive care.
Individuals who do not have access to health services. Patients suffering from chronic diseases do not have to deal with these conditions much. This includes patients with asthma, cancer, diabetes or heart disease.
6. Infrastructure Issues
Poorly maintained roads (increases the risk of traffic accidents)
Insufficient access to clean drinking water.
Lack of local health infrastructure such as clinics capable of vaccination.
Overcoming poor infrastructure requires the proper allocation of resources from the local, and state. It is the federal government as well as a skilled workforce to properly maintain the infrastructure.
7. Poor Water Quality
According to a report by Verywell Health, 780 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water. The shocking thing is that almost one-third of the world’s population does not have access to clean water for hygiene. The health consequences are sobering: More than 2,200 children die every day from diseases caused by poor water quality.
Many factors adversely affect water quality, eg industrial waste, and pollution. Outdated plumbing infrastructure.
8. Global Environmental Problems
Global environmental problems account for more than 12.6 million deaths annually, according to WHO. Along with the issues mentioned here, they can include soil pollution, ultraviolet radiation, and loss of biodiversity. According to the data, more than 100 diseases and injuries be directly linked to environmental health problems. These issues often have the greatest impact on communities that are poor and already have significant health vulnerabilities.
