lecture -1

1. ENVIRONMENT
AND HEALTH
Lecture 1
Dr.Shahid Mahmood
Assistant Professor
Department of Community Medicine
Fatima Jinnah Medical College Lahore

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 Park K. Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine
 Dr.Ejaz Qureshi. Institute of Public Health Lahore
 Maxcy- Rosenau-Last. Public health and Preventive
Medicine
o Gupta & Mahajan . Textbook of preventive and Social
Medicine
o Illiyas -Shah- Ansari . Public Health and Community
Medicine
o World Health Organization (WHO)
o Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

3. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this session, students will be able to:
1. Define basic terms in Environmental Health
2. Illustrate the types of environments and its role
in influencing health and disease.
3. Describe current environmental health issues
4. Appreciate how environmental degradation
would lead to various emergencies and
disasters.

4. ENVIRONMENT
All the external factors
Living and non living
Material and Non- material
Surrounding and affecting a given organism

5. Environment
Physical Biologic Social
Water Plants
Values
Air Animals
Customs
Soil Bacteria
Culture
Housing Viruses
Occupation
Wastes Insects
Religion
Radiation Rodents

6. PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH
Chemical poisoning, Respiratory tract infections,
Radioactive cancers
hazards, Air Diarrhea
Skin problems, GI Dysentery
problems Water Hepatitis
Waste
Amoebiasis
Deafness,
Fatigue,
Annoyance, Noise Lead
Psychological Light
Physical Soil
Poisoning,
Mercury
effect,
Blindness
Environment poisoning,
(light) Leukemia,
skin
problems
Heat cramps, Climate Housing
Frostbite,
Respiratory
problems Radiation
Respiratory
Leukemia, mutations infections, skin
infections, accidents

7. BIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH
Cholera, Typhoid, TB
Bacteria
Zoonoses
* Rabies Chickenpox
* Yellow fever Poliomyelitis
* Plague Measles
Influenza
Animals Viruses
Biological
Environment
Fungal Malaria
infection, Plants (parasite)
Poisoning and Dengue
Arthropods
Eukaryotic (viruses)
organisms

8. Social Environment
Values/ Culture/ Socio-economic Conditions/ Employment/ Poverty
/Education/Politics/
Religion/ Technology/ Urbanization
Social Problems
Heath Effects
• Poverty
 Inequitable health care • Unemployment
 Malnutrition • Corruption
 Depression/ Anxiety • Hunger
 Mental stress • Drug Addiction
 Accidents • Alcoholism
 Poor dental hygiene • Bullying
 reduce life expectancy • Gambling
 Hygiene related • Prostitution
diseases like scabies, • Underage marriages
fungal infections • Inequality of wealth
 Poor environmental • Gender inequality
sanitation diseases

10. ECOSYSTEM
An ecosystem is a
biological environment
consisting of all the
organisms living in a
particular area, as well
as all the nonliving
(abiotic), physical
components of the
environment with which
the organisms interact,
such as air, soil, water
and sunlight.

11. ECOLOGY
The scientific study of interactions of
organisms with one another and with the
physical and chemical environment.
SANITATION (A WAY OF LIFE)
Science of safe guarding health
“ Quality of living expressed in clean home,
clean workplace, clean neighborhood and
clean community…” National Sanitation Foundation , USA

12. ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION
“ The Control of all those factors in
man’s physical environment which
exercise or may exercise a
deleterious effect on his physical
environment, health and survival ”
World Health Organization (WHO)

13. HEALTH
“ State of physical , mental and social wellbeing
and not merely an absence of disease or
infirmity ” World Health Organization

14. Environmental Health
It is the branch of public health that is
concerned with all aspects of the natural
and built environment that may affect
human health.
Other terms refer to the discipline of environmental health
include
Environmental public health
and
Environmental health and protection.

15. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
It Comprises the aspects of human health
that are determined by physical, chemical,
biological, and psychosocial factors in the
environment.
It also concerns with assessing, correcting,
controlling and preventing factors in the
environment that can potentially affect
adversely the health of present and future
generations”
University of California, USA

16. DEFINITION OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH – WHO
Environmental health is defined by the World
Health Organization 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”.

17. Environmental Health
(Themes of the definition)
 Study of all the physical, chemical, and
biological factors external to a person, and all
the related factors impacting behaviours.
 Assessment and control of those
environmental factors that can potentially affect
health.
 Targeted towards preventing disease and
creating health-supportive environments.
(World Health Organization)

18. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
 Those services which implement environmental
health policies through monitoring and control
activities.
 Carry out that role by promoting the
improvement of environmental parameters and
by encouraging the use of environmentally
friendly and healthy technologies and behaviors.
 They also have a leading role in developing and
suggesting new policy areas.

19. DISCIPLINES OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
 Three basic disciplines generally contribute to the
field of environmental health:
1. Environmental Epidemiology
2. Toxicology
3. Exposure science.
Each of these disciplines contributes
different information to describe
problems in environmental health, but
there is some overlap among them.

20. ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY TO HEALTH POLICY
DECISIONS
Information from these three disciplines can be
combined to conduct a risk assessment for
specific chemicals or mixtures of chemicals to
determine whether an exposure poses significant
risk to human health. This can in turn be used to
develop and implement environmental health
policy that, for example, regulates chemical
emissions, or imposes standards for proper
sanitation.

21. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH TEAM
It comprises of :
1. Public health practitioner
2. Epidemiologist
3. Economist
4. Public Health Engineer
5. Town Planner
6. Clinician
7. Sociologist
8. Health Inspector

22. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PRACTITIONERS
1. Environmental health officers
2. Public Health Inspectors
3. Sanitarians

23. WHAT ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
PRACTITIONERS DO?
 Promoting healthy environments and managing
environmental factors that affect human health.
Issues that practitioners deal with include:
1. Environmental degradation
2. Climate change
3. Contaminated food and water
4. Waste management
5. Disaster management
6. Dangerous goods, chemicals and drug safety
management.

24. Indoor Air Pollution
Outdoor Air Pollution
Environmental Health Issues
Water Pollution Improper Solid waste
Poor Housing
Disposal

25. POPULATION GROWTH AND URBANIZATION

26. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
Industrial Waste
causing water
pollution
Nuclear and
electromagnetic
hazards in
Environment

27. WHY STUDY ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ?
 Environmental hazards are responsible for as much
as 23% the total burden of disease world-wide, and
more than one-third of the disease burden among
children.
The disease burden is much higher in the
developing world
 Most Common problems related to environment include:
o Diarrhea
o Respiratory tract infections
o Unintentional injuries
o Malaria and Dengue

28. Every year, the lives of four million children under
5 years – mostly in developing countries – could
be saved by preventing environmental risks such
as unsafe water and polluted air

29.  For many poor people,
household waste can
become the source of
their income.
 proximity to livestock
and garbage poses
multiple risks to the
health of such
workers.

30.  88%of the diarrheal deaths are due to unsafe
water, inappropriate sanitation and lack of
hygiene.
 Indoor air pollution due to cooking fuels is
estimated to cause approximately 2 million
premature deaths mostly in developing
countries. Almost half of these deaths are due to
pneumonia in children under 5 years of age.
 Urban outdoor air pollution is estimated to cause
1.3 million deaths worldwide per year.

31. IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
 Worldwide, as many as 13 million deaths could
be prevented every year by making our
environments healthier.
 Health impacts of environmental hazards run
across more than 80 diseases and types of injury.
 The global warming that has occurred since the
1970s was causing over 140 000 excess deaths
annually by the year 2004.

32. IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
 The electromagnetic fields produced by
mobile phones are classified by the
International Agency for Research on
Cancer as possibly carcinogenic to
humans.
 Climate change affects the fundamental
requirements for health – clean air, safe
drinking water, sufficient food and secure
shelter.

33. IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
 Many of the major killers such as
diarrhoeal diseases, malnutrition,
malaria and dengue are highly climate-
sensitive and are expected to worsen as
the climate changes
 Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases
through better transport, food and energy-
use choices can result in improved health.

34. Healthier environments could
significantly reduce the
incidence of cancers,
cardiovascular diseases,
asthma, lower respiratory
infections, musculoskeletal
diseases, road traffic
injuries, poisoning, and
drowning.

35. DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
In developing countries, the
main environmentally caused
diseases are diarrhoeal
disease, lower respiratory
infections, unintentional
injuries, and malaria.

36. Better environmental management
could prevent 40% of deaths from
malaria, 41% of deaths from lower
respiratory infections, and 94% of
deaths from diarrhoeal disease –
three of the world's biggest
childhood killers.

37. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN PAKISTAN
Improper disposal of
both
solid and liquid
waste.
Unsafe drinking water

38. AIR POLLUTION IN PAKISTAN

39. NOISE POLLUTION IN PAKISTAN

40. POOR HOUSING IN PAKISTAN

41. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH STATISTICS PAKISTAN
 The WHO reports that 25-30% of all hospital
admissions are connected to water borne
bacterial and parasitic conditions, with 60% of
infant deaths caused by water infections.
 Annualdeaths in Pakistan due to respiratory
diseases have not been well-documented Total
Annual deaths attributed to indoor pollution in
Pakistan are 70700.

42. COMPARISON OF SAFE WATER AND SANITATION –
SOUTH EAST ASIAN COUNTRIES
100
90
80
70
60
50
Safe Water
40 Adequate Sanitation
30
20
10
0

43. CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS
Air Quality
Climate
Toxicity in air Change/
water, soil Global
Warming
Chemical, Medi
cal and liquid
waste Food Safety
Management
Housing Water
Standards protection
Body Art
Safety

44. 10 MOST POLLUTED CITIES IN WORLD
1. Maputo Mozambique
2. Moscow – Russia
3. Brunei Dar- Islam
4. Baghdad - Iraq
5. Mumbai India
6. New Delhi India
7. Mexico city Maxico
8. Dhaka Bangladesh
9. Karachi Pakistan
10. Lagos Nigeria

45. Effects of Environmental
Degradation
Leaking Iranian tanker spilt 60,000
tones of crude oil into Moroccan sea
,threatening aquatic life in early 90’s
Burning of Oil wells in Kuwait During
Gulf crisis caused atmospheric and
Marine Pollution, killed thousands of
birds

46. An estimated 2000 tons of dead fish
was found floating in the marine
beach of Karachi possibly due to
chemicals effluents from Industries.
The Tsunami Flood in Asian
countries caused a devastation
with several thousand killed and
houses destroyed

47. IN THIS LECTURE,
 What is environment , its different types and
relevance to human Health?
 How Environmental factors influence our living?
 Why it is essential to study Environmental factors?
 What are various environmental concerns today?