Module Components

• Overview
• Assignments

Topics

• Environmental Health Issues--Magnitude of the Problem and Prevention
• Population-based Initiatives to Reduce the Burden of Environmental Health Issues
• Occupational Health Issues--Magnitude of the Problem and Prevention
• Population-based Initiatives to Reduce the Burden of Occupational Health Issues
• Unintended Injuries and Violence—Magnitude of the Problem and Prevention
• Population-based Initiatives to Reduce the Burden of Unintended Injuries and Violence

NRSG 780 - Health Promotion and Population Health

Module 12: Environmental Health, Occupational Health, Unintended Injuries and Violence

Environmental Health Issues--Magnitude of the Problem and Prevention

Magnitude of the Problem

Environmental health encompasses preventing and controlling disease, injury and disability related to the interactions between individuals and their environment.  The WHO defines environment as it relates to health as “all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the related behaviors.”

Approximately 10% of premature morbidity and mortality in the U.S. is attributed to environmental causes.  On the international level, the WHO estimates that nearly 25% of the total disease burden and 25% of deaths can be attributed to environmental factors that include:

• Exposures to hazardous substances in the air, water, soil and food
• Natural and technological disasters
• Physical hazards
• Nutritional deficiencies
• The built environment

In 2010 the American Nurses Association recognized the critical need to understand environmental health issues and added an Environmental Health Standard to its Scope and Standards of Practice.

Prevention

The Precautionary Principle enunciated in the 1998 Wingspread Statement as “when an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some causes and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically,” is a fundamental tenant for all environmental health endeavors.

Population and community-based strategies that target reducing environmental health risks include:

• Decreasing air pollution
• Protecting and minimizing drinking water and recreational water from infectious or chemical agents
• Reducing exposure to toxic substances and hazardous waste
• Maintaining healthy homes and communities by reducing exposure to indoor air pollution, inadequate heating and sanitation, structural problems, electrical and fire hazards and lead-based paint hazards
• Building capacity to measure and respond to environmental health hazards
• Increasing access to adequate water and sanitation facilities (global priority)

Poor environmental quality has its greatest impact on people whose health status is already at risk.  As a result, environmental health initiatives must also address the societal and environmental factors that increase the likelihood of exposure and disease.

For more information review the required reading:

• Healthy People 2030. (2020). Environmental health. Available at    https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/environmental-health