Hello all! My name is Zohir Chowdhury, and now we will
focus on why it is important to study environmental health
so why environmental health why is ensuring a healthy environment is important food water
sanitation air pollution climate change critically affect a population's health environmental health
issues such as climate change indoor and outdoor air pollution water pollution food safety and
hygiene are major risk factors in the global burden of disease children elderly pregnant women
and immunocompromised people are at higher risk of health problems related to environmental pollution
and we can see from this infographic from the world health organization of the wh show which
shows that environmental pollutants can cause health problems such as stroke respiratory
diseases heart diseases water-borne diseases and many other types of cancers so
reducing environmental risk factors can prevent many serious health problems and death
globally one in four of all deaths are estimated to be attributable to the environment
in total the number of death linked to environment amounts to approximately 12.6 million per year
this burden could be lessened significantly by reducing risks through changes to the
modifiable environment assuming this chart that impact of the environment
on health is unevenly distributed across major disease groups the largest number of deaths
attributed to the environment about 8.2 million deaths per year is now caused
by non-communicable diseases and the remaining 2.5 million deaths per year is from infectious
and and other 2 million deaths per year are from injuries injuries such as motor vehicle related
injuries falls drowning are often largely conditioned directly by the environment
on the left side we can see this bar graph the graph list each disease and the pink color
portion shows the percentage attributable to environmental causes
the diseases with the main environmental contribution are the cardiovascular
diseases followed by the real diseases and respiratory infections and cancers
in this chart we can actually see what possible environmental actions we can
engage in to prevent some of these diseases and you can see on the bottom in here the specific
course of action that can be implied in each in preventing each of these disease
categories in here it is worth making paying attention to each of these preventive actions
one health is an approach that recognizes that the health of people is closely connected to the
health of animals and our shared environment one health is not new but it has become more
important in recent years this is because many factors have changed the interaction among people
animals plants and our environment here the this infographic from who again
lists some of the specific environmental factors that affect human health such as air pollution
inadequate water and sanitation the use of chemical use of radiation the noise
level in the community as well as occupational risk that arises from various work practices
agricultural practices the built environment as well as from the greater climate as in general
um now i'm going to show you a few photos or images from different countries uh
around the globe uh to just uh provide you a glimpse of the how environment is
related to the well-being of people so the figure on your left shows a coal-fired power
station contributing to ambient air pollution which affects millions and millions of people
around the globe especially in china and india where pollution levels are very very bad
on your right you can see a woman cooking using open fire stove inside her home and the pollution
associated with this usage many countries around the globe still rely on solid fields for cooking
and eating and that women and children are exposed to those levels to these high levels of pollution
in this slide the figure on the left is from jakarta indonesia this figure shows
clogged up open sewers poor drainage and lack of solid waste management and how this create
urban conditions around the world conducive to intense transmission of communicable diseases
the figure on your right shows a man mixing pesticides for agricultural application
removing the most toxic pesticides from agricultural practice
and reducing access to pesticides would prevent many suicides around the globe
in this image from niger africa children are playing in this flooded street children are
particularly vulnerable to cystosomitis which is a water-borne disease related
to lack of sanitation or hygiene practice and recreational water use the figure to your right
is from uruguayans in south america household water storage requires safeguards such as
covers or protective netting to prevent the breeding of mosquito factors which
carry a wide area of diseases such as malaria zika dengue to name a few
the figure to your left is from morocco africa it shows a worker washing leather before it is
dyed many chemicals used in the leather tanning industry have been linked to various forms of
cancer the figure to your right is from havana cuba you can see a health worker checking used
tires for the breeding of edis mosquito which is a vector for dengue chikungunya and zika virus
occupational environments pose a lot of risk to workers on the left you can see a worker
in cambodia grinding metals without ear protection and on your right you can see a man using a ladder
falls in the workplace and at home can be reduced by safeguards and other feedings
you can see more work related health risks illustrated in these two images
protective clothing and equipment are important in reducing workplace injuries on the left side
you can see in here workers wearing full bodied full body cover boots and gloves and protect and
reflective clothing on the right side you can see workers wearing masks and gloves to protect
against dust particles in a cement factory so i hope that you've been able to understand that deep
connection of the environment and human health so the rainbow model of determinants of health
incorporates some of these aspects here so in this model you can see at its core the
individual biological determinants such as age sex and constitutional characteristics
these characteristics affect health and are largely fixed from here the frameworks adds layers
of determinants that are socially determined from individual lifestyle factors and further
upstreams are those factors and services that impact on health at the population level
that are theoretically modifiable by policies you can see how many factors are tied to the
environment we live in the quality of our house the quality of our work environment
including living and working conditions the air that we breathe and the water that we drink
or we baking as well as the food that we consume all have influence to our health and well-being
so i hope that you've been able to understand the connection between human health and the
environment and why it is important to study environmental health so that we can take prevent
proper preventive actions to improve our health well-being
thank you for listening and please do not forget to subscribe to uh to this channel thank you