Environment and human health, the good aspect of the environment and the benefits of nature to human health .

1. SEMINAR PRESENTATION ON
ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN HEALTH: A GLOBAL CHALLENGE
BY
UGBAJI EMMANUEL UGBEDE
NUO/PG/PGD/18/153
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY HEALTH, COLLEGE OF
HEALTH SCIENCES, NOVENA UNIVERSITY, OGUME
SUPERVISORS:
ADJENE, J.O. AND PROF., NWAJEI, S.D.
August, 2019

2. Outline
• Abstract
• Introduction
• The Importance of Contact with Nature
• Biodiversity and Human Health
• Human Health and the Natural Environment
• Valuing the Natural Environment
• Potential Strategies to Ensure the Health of the Natural Environment
• Human Health and the Built Environment
• The Effect of Living Environment On Human Mental and Physical Health
• Environmental Health
• Conclusion
• Recommendations
• References

3. ABSTRACT• Human health and wellbeing are fundamentally linked to the state of the environment, from the air we breathe, to the
water we drink or swim in, to the land we grow our food and build our homes on, and through our experiences of the
sounds and smells around us. The best-known health impacts are related to ambient air pollution, poor water quality and
insufficient sanitation. Among these threats are an increasing incidence of cancer caused by pollution of air, land and
water as well as outbreaks of infectious disease caused by habitat disruption. The world changes and it is important to
analyze the relevance of the environment to health at the light of different factors. Increasing evidence exists that human
health is influenced by our way of living and dealing with the environment. A clean environment is essential for human
health and well-being. However, the interactions between the environment and human health are highly complex and
difficult to assess. This makes the use of the precautionary principle particularly very useful, however less is known
about the health impacts of hazardous chemicals. Noise is an emerging environment and health issue. Climate change,
depletion of stratospheric ozone, loss of biodiversity, and land degradation also have their various grips on human health.
Just as our actions and choices affect the environment, the health of the planet influences our personal health and well-
being. However, only in recent years have science and technology provided us with ways to measure the correlation
between a healthy environment and a healthy body. The natural environment in which we spend our days and the
national and international community in which environmental protections are based must be negotiated to provide both a
local and a global perspective by which to consider environmental health. You can agree with me that we have limited
resources for identifying and understanding challenges to health or implementing health intervention strategies. Some of
the higher-order issues, such as sustainability, must be addressed if we are to achieve better health. We cannot continue to
have consumption that outweighs the production capacity of our ecosystems, and we cannot continue to produce waste at
a rate that outweighs our ability to assimilate it back into the ecosystems without negatively impacting the environment.
A second challenge is to develop baseline data on different environmental stressors. Impacts of a poor environment on
public health can be direct or indirect. we have tended historically to focus on the direct effects of pollution on public
health for example, toxicity or adverse health effects and less on the bio indicators that can measure direct and indirect
effects through impacts on ecological systems. To meet these challenges, we need to develop more holistic and integrated
approaches to environmental health that incorporate considerations of human biological and ecological health in order to
achieve better understanding of these interrelationships. Many environmental problems stem from our failure to value the
natural environment as we should. Ways to Protect the natural environment may include, monitor the health of our local
environment actively and continuously, create outreach programs for educating individuals about environmental health
issues, continue to address issues related to pollution, Base policy about the environment and health on sound science.

4. INTRODUCTION
• Fifty years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined health as “a state of
complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity.” This definition should serve as a reminder that redefining the
view of environmental health and the natural environment requires many shifts in
thinking, as well as a willingness to pursue a diversity of approaches. As stated by
Verheij, health is believed to be influenced by both ecological (aggregate) as well
as individual characteristics, yet much large scale sociological and geographic
research focuses on either the individual or his environment.
• In Western societies, the relevance of the environment to health has become
obscured or it is narrowed, relating specifically to toxic, infectious or allergenic
agents and broader psychosocial mechanisms are rarely given importance. On the
other hand, it becomes evident that a more strategic approach needs to be found,
enabling environment and health to be related, namely in what concerns
contemporary health. At this respect, it is also important that researchers from
different disciplines and methodological backgrounds are able to work together to
maximize the value of each approach to the research and to health promotion.

5. The Importance of Contact with Nature
• A theoretical basis for the notion that contact with nature is beneficial comes
from E.O. Wilson, who introduced the term Biophilia so many years ago,
defined as the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living
organisms. From an evolutionary perspective, a deep-seated connection with
the natural world should be no surprise. Humans have been evolving for more
than 2 million years, yet have lived relatively insulated from nature for only
the last 10,000 years. As Wilson (1993) noted, “it would be quite
extraordinary to find that all learning rules related to the natural world have
been erased in a few thousand years, even in the tiny minority of peoples who
have existed for more than one or two generations in wholly urban
environments.”
• This is not a new idea, claimed Howard Frumkin of Emory University. The
human connection to nature and the idea that this might be a component of
good health have a long and fascinating history in philosophy, art, and popular
culture. There are evidences from animals, plants, landscapes, and wilderness
experiences that we can build on this affiliation to enhance our health.

6. Biodiversity and Human Health
• There is a powerful connection between the variety of life on earth and our
own well-being, for example, the contributions of natural products to the
pharmacopoeia, research, and diagnostic tools, and as indicators of pollution-
related disease. In the pharmacopoeia, the natural world is continuously
offering compounds that are useful in medicine, and the search for biologically
active compounds continues.
• Biodiversity is essential for guaranteeing the healthiness of humans. Tom
Lovejoy.
• Natural products are often essential in both research and diagnostic tools, said
Lovejoy, the prime example being the polymerase chain reaction, which relies
on a naturally occurring substance to initiate the reaction. Another example
involves horseshoe crabs, the blood of which is useful in detecting certain
impurities in drugs. Other species can also provide unexpected insight into our

7. Human Health and the Natural Environment
• The natural environment is the thin layer of life and life supports, called the
biosphere, that contains the earth’s air, soil, water, and living organisms. The
connection between protecting the natural environment and safeguarding
human health has been recognized for some time. In recent decades the focus
of research and legislation has been identifying and regulating environmental
toxics to reduce harmful human exposures.
• Preserving the variety of life on earth is also essential to human health. The
natural world continually offers compounds that are useful to the
pharmacopoeia. Animal and plant products are vital for research and
diagnostic tools, and they can be used as indicators of pollution-related
disease. Research suggests that biodiversity may hold a key to the prevention
and treatment of many diseases (Lovejoy, 2001). An even more direct
connection between the environment and health is the potential enhancement
of our physical, mental, and social well-being through our daily exposure to the
natural environment.

8. Valuing the Natural Environment
• Many environmental problems stem from our failure to value the natural
environment as we should, according to Eugene Odum, University of Georgia,
Institute of Ecology. Current market economics deal largely with human-made
goods and services and very little with nature’s goods and services (Odum,
1998).
• Air, water, and the cost of waste treatment) have held little economic concern
because the environment seemed large enough to absorb the costs (Odum,
1998). As the human population continues to burgeon and our demands on
the environment skyrocket, this assumption will no longer be valid, concluded
Odum. It is important that we understand the actual costs of the goods and
services that nature provides. For example, household water bills cover only
the expense of pumping, filtering, and delivering water. They do not pay for
nature’s processing of that water.

9. Potential Strategies to Ensure the Health of the
Natural Environment
• A prevailing theme among conservationists has been that preserving nature and
protecting natural areas require keeping them pristine and completely free of the
imprints of humans and human systems. This view is in many ways no longer
practical because most ecosystems today are impacted in some way by human
behavior, stated Matthew Kales, Upper Chattahoochee River keeper. Virtually
every stream in the world is affected by atmospheric deposition. The air quality in
some of our national parks has been found to be no better than in some of our
cities. Essentially, no place exists where we cannot feel, in some measurable way,
the footprint of humans.
• To protect the natural environment, solutions are needed that consider the entire
environment in a holistic way. A first step is to monitor the health of our local
environment actively and continuously, said many participants. A set of indices for
the health of the environment (e.g., rate of biomass production and respiration,
microorganism activity, rate of erosion, levels of toxins) would create a profile of a
healthy environment and serve as important benchmarks against which to
compare future changes in the environment,

10. Human Health and the Built Environment
• The living environment role in the health of individuals evolves. The world changes
and it is important to analyses the relevance of the environment to health at the
light of different factors. Increasing evidence exists that human health is influenced
by our way of living and dealing with the environment. In a society where
inequalities exist, it becomes clear that a positive relation exists between a good
living environment and people’s well-being.
• . From the way we interact with each other through social contacts until the way
we treat environment, with its consequences, all accounts to our well-being and
mental and physical health. Social relationships are directly connected to a healthy
environment and are a beneficial part of this equation, allowing persons to be
healthier and to live longer. Clearly, a person’s individual characteristics plays a
crucial role in these connections, since these relations do not constitute an exact
science.
• It is essential to pay attention to the way emerging economies conduct their
development, because it carries important responsibilities for the future of the
next generation with adverse impacts caused by pollution and representing a
threat to human health and well-being. The associations between environment as
a whole and human health are very complex.

11. The Effect of Living Environment on Human
Mental and Physical Health
• According to different authors, it is important to account with the effect of living
environment in health, since that effect is demonstrated through geographic health
inequalities. In fact, the very same authors acknowledge that the social ecology
model emphasizes that health is influenced by several aspects in terms of the
physical and the social environment, besides several other features. This model has
been gaining importance in terms of health promotion. Hawe and Shiel also suggest
that epidemiology and ecological-level studies may link social capital and health,
thus alerting health promoters to reverse the tendency of interventions and allowing
urban designers, sociologists, geographers and ecologists to get involved into public
health.
• Maas et al. also state there is increasing evidence that a positive relation exists
between the amount of green space in the living environment and people’s health
and well-being. In fact, the authors refer that green space may have a beneficial
effect on health because it promotes social contact through activities occurring in
meeting places. The therapeutic power of green spaces has been studied in the last
decades, with accumulating evidence available for their restorative power. Shared
gardening already appearing on Portugal, for example, under the designation of
“community garden” is one of those activities.

12. Environmental Health
• Environmental health has been defined in a 1999 document by the World Health
Organization (WHO) as: Those aspects of the human health and disease that are
determined by factors in the environment. It also refers to the theory and practice
of assessing and controlling factors in the environment that can potentially affect
health.
• Environmental health is the branch of public health concerned with all aspects of
the natural and built environment affecting human health. Other terms referring
to or concerning environmental health are environmental public health, and
public health protection/ environmental health protection. Environmental health
is focused on the natural and built environments for the benefit of human health,
whereas environmental protection is concerned with protecting the natural
environment for the benefit of human health and the ecosystem.
• As of 2016 the WHO website on environmental health states "Environmental
health addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a
person, and all the related factors impacting behaviours. It encompasses the
assessment and control of those environmental factors that can potentially affect
health.

13. Conclusion
• New types of interventions are necessary when considering the different ways
environment and human health are connected. Innovative strategies of intervention,
either in terms of modes and means, placing less emphasis on legislation need to be
adopted. Goals to achieve this need to be articulated clearly. An individualistic view of
health is not compatible with medical science and epidemiology if faced in an ecology
perspective.
• . The living environment plays a very important role in health and interventions and
should be addressed looking at neighbourhood environment as a potential source of
stress and disease, or well-being and health.
• Today, we even know that changes in ecosystems, affecting the environmental matrix,
and could be deforestation, for example, may expose humans to peaks of infections,
since the dynamics are variable and vectors unpredictable. The scientific examination
of the impact of environmental factors on human health will improve the quality of
life of people and will allow to achieve health, and promoting the environments.
More comprehensive interdisciplinary research studies are required to fully
understand how society can effectively intervene in practical terms, in order to allow
people to fully take advantage of the living environment so that it may positively have
reflections on human health policies.

14. Recommendations
• The present review does not intend to be focused on one aspect of the
possible associations between Environment and Human Health. Instead, it
reports several issues regarding concerns present in our society, that reveal
these associations are expanding and getting more and more clear. Because of
that, many aspects were left behind, but, at the same time a different picture
of the situation arises, due to the interconnection between so many different
aspects of the problem.
• It is important that public awareness of all problems associated with the
presented association are communicated, in order for actions to be taken
regarding a public framework to be established by governments and local
institutions, which must also take into account resources sustainability.
• In the light of this the following are recommended for strict applications at all
levels, in order to manage the environment properly to promote healthy living
and healthy relation between the environment and human health.

15. Monitoring, assessing and public reporting
• Measures and reports on the condition of the environment, which helps to provide
information on environmental quality and guidance on all levels of protection for people and
safe use of the environment. Monitoring programs, particularly those for air and water quality
are great examples of how we can do this. We need to assess environmental health through
environmental quality ‘indicators’ and ‘objectives’.
Setting standards
• Standards that focus on key causes of environmental harm need to be set in order to protect
our sensitive environment and human health, and to drive improvements. Many of these
standards are set as environmental quality objectives through State environmental protection
policies, or as management controls through Regulations and guidelines. We must use these
standards to protect the beneficial uses of our environment, including human health,
wellbeing and amenity.
• Stakeholders need to provide guidance on how to comply with the law and relevant standards,
and how to identify and manage risks. We also need to gather evidence to support future
standards and improved practices

16. • Assessment and approval of a range of activities and premises, both prior to their
construction and during their operation, through approval and licensing process. This will
help to ensure that higher risk activities will meet the appropriate standards and to protect
the environment, human health, wellbeing and amenity. Through this process,
environmental professionals can provide and encourages public participation in decision
making. All applications are to be referred to the Department of environmental Health for
advice, as it is the key agency with shared jurisdiction in protecting public health and
wellbeing.
Compliance and enforcement prioritization
• A core function of environmental and environmental health professionals is to monitor and
enforce compliance with the law to detect and respond to a problem or risk before it leads
to an impact on the environment and human health.
• Prioritizing compliance and enforcement efforts towards the biggest risk(s) of harm to the
environment, human health, safety and welfare will be a great step in maintaining a good
and a healthy environment. This may mean not all potential harms can be acted on.
Greatest priority is to be given to more severe environmental or health harms.
Public Health
• Many of the issues we face all tie back into one central concern public health. Pollution,
water scarcity and overpopulation all present a clear threat to public health. Nearly one
out of every four deaths each year are directly caused by unhealthy environments,
according to the WHO. Even in