User:Cat2120330347/Environmental health

Definitions
Blah blah blah

Disciplines
blah blah blah

Concerns
Keep the bulleted list, but expand on these topics:

Air quality
Air quality includes ambient outdoor air quality and indoor air quality. Large concerns about air quality include, but are not limited to, environmental tobacco smoke, air pollution and forms of chemical waste, etc.

Outdoor Air Quality
Air pollution is globally responsible for over 6.5 million deaths each year. Air pollution is the contamination of an atmosphere due to the presence of substances that are harmful to the health of living organisms, the environment or climate. There are many different types of air pollutants that can cause harm to living organisms and affect ones health. These air pollutants concern environmental health factors since air pollution is often a risk-factor for diseases that are related to pollution, like lung cancer, respiratory infections, asthma, heart disease, and other forms of illness. Reducing air pollution, and thus developing air quality, has been found to decrease adult mortality. Common products responsible for emissions include road traffic, energy production, household combustion, aviation and motor vehicles, and other forms of pollutants. These pollutants are responsible for the burning of fuel, which can release harmful particles into the air that humans and other living organisms inhale or ingest.

Air pollution is associated with adverse health effects like respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, related illnesses, and even death. The risk of air pollution is determined by the pollutant's hazard and the amount of exposure that affects a person. For example, a child who plays outdoor sports will have a higher likelihood of outdoor air pollution exposure compared to an adult who tends to spend most time indoors, whether at work or elsewhere. Environmental health aims to detect every individual who consumes air pollution, work to decrease their consumption, and detect the risks that are associated with air pollution consumption.

Indoor Air Quality
Household air pollution contributes to diseases that kill almost 4.3 million people every year. This pollution is responsible for diseases like heart disease, pulmonary disease, stroke, pneumonia, and other associated illnesses. For vulnerable populations who spend large amounts of their time indoors, like children and elderly populations, poor indoor air quality can be dangerous.

Burning fuels like coal or kerosene inside homes can cause dangerous chemicals to be released into the air. Dampness and mold in houses can cause diseases as well, but little studies have been performed on mold in schools and workplaces. Environmental tobacco smoke is considered to be a leading contributor to indoor air pollution, since a large percent of people are exposed to second and third-hand smoke. Tobacco smoke contains over 60 carcinogens, where 18% are known human carcinogens. Exposure to these chemicals can lead to exacerbation of asthma, development of cardiovascular diseases, cardiopulmonary diseases, and increase the likelihood of cancer development.

Physical Health
Climate change makes extreme weather events more likely, including ozone smog events, dust storms, and elevated aerosol levels, all due to extreme heat, drought, winds, and rainfall. These extreme weather events can increase the likelihood of undernutrition, mortality, food insecurity, and climate-sensitive infectious diseases in vulnerable populations. The effects of climate change are felt by the whole world, but disproportionately affect disadvantaged populations who are subject to climate change vulnerability. Climate impacts can affect exposure to water-borne pathogens through increased rates of runoff, frequent heavy rains, and the effects of severe storms. Extreme weather events and storm surges can also exceed the capacity of water infrastructure, which can increase the likelihood that populations will be exposed to contaminants. Exposure to these contaminants are more likely in low-income communities, where they have inadequate infrastructure to respond to climate disasters and are less likely to recover from infrastructure damage as quickly.

Mental Health
Problems like the loss of homes, loved ones, and previous ways of life, are often what people face after a climate disaster occurs. These events can lead to vulnerability in the form of housing affordability stress, lower household income, lack of community attachment, grief, and anxiety around another disaster occurring.

Environmental racism
Certain groups of people can be put at a higher risk for environmental hazards like air, soil, and water pollution. This often happens due to marginalization, economic and political processes, and racism. Environmental racism uniquely affects different groups globally, however generally the most marginalized groups of any given region/nation are affected. These marginalized groups are frequently put next to pollution sources like major roadways, toxic waste sites, landfills, and chemical plants.

Noise pollution
Noise pollution is usually non-environmental, machine-created sound that can disrupt activities or communication between humans and other life forms. Exposure to persistent noise pollution can cause diseases like hearing impairment, sleep disturbances, cardiovascular problems, annoyance, problems with communication and other diseases. For American citizens of color that live in neighborhoods of low socioeconomic status, they often experience higher levels of noise pollution compared to their higher socioeconomic counterparts.

Impact on development
Noise pollution can cause or exacerbate cardiovascular diseases, which can further affect a large range of diseases, increase stress levels, and cause sleep disturbances. Noise pollution is also responsible for cases of hearing loss, tinnitus, and other forms of hypersensitivity or lack thereof to sound. These conditions can be dangerous to children and young adults who consistently experience noise pollution, as many of these conditions can develop into long-term problems.

Children who attend school in noisy traffic zones have shown to have 20% lower memory development compared to other students who attended schools in quiet traffic zones, according to a Barcelona study. This is consistent with research that suggests that children who are exposed to regular aircraft noise "have poorer performance on standardised achievement tests."

Effects of mental health
Exposure to persistent noise pollution can cause one to development hearing impairments, like tinnitus or impaired speech discrimination. One of the largest factors in worsened mental health due to noise pollution is annoyance. Annoyance due to environmental factors has been found to increase stress reactions and overall feelings of stress among adults. The level of annoyance felt by an individual varies, but contributes to worsened mental health significantly.

Noise exposure also contributes sleep disturbance, which can cause daytime sleepiness and an overall lack of sleep, which contributes to worsened health.

Safe drinking water
Access to safe drinking water is considered a "basic human need for health and well-being" by the United Nations. According to their reports, over 2 billion people live worldwide without access to safe drinking water. In 2017, almost 22 million Americans drank from water systems that were in violation of public health standards. Globally, over 2 billion people drink faeces-contaminated water, which poses the greatest threat to drinking-water safety. Contaminated drinking water like this can transmit diseases like cholera, dysentery, typhoid, diarrhoea, and polio.

Harmful chemicals in drinking water can negatively affect health. Unsafe water management practices can increase the prevalence of water-borne diseases and sanitation-related illnesses. Schools in the United States are not required by law to test for safe drinking water, meaning that many children can drink contaminants like lead in their water at school. Inadequate disinfecting of wastewater in industrial and agricultural centers can also infect hundreds of millions of people with contaminated water. Chemicals like fluoride and arsenic can benefit humans when the levels of these chemicals are controlled, but other, more dangerous chemicals like lead and metals can be harmful to humans.

In America, communities of color can be subject to poor-quality water. In communities in America with large hispanic and black populations, there is a correlated rise in SDWA health violations. Populations who have experienced lack of safe drinking water, like populations in Flint, Michigan, are more likely to distrust tap water in their communities. Populations to experience this are commonly low-income, communities of color.

Drinking water
By 2015, 5.2 billion people representing 71% of the global population used safely managed drinking water services. As of 2017, 90% of people having access to water from a source that is suitable for drinking – called improved water source – and 71% of the world could access safely managed drinking water that is clean and available on-demand. Estimates suggest that at least 25% of improved sources contain fecal contamination. 1.8 billion people still use an unsafe drinking water source which may be contaminated by feces. This can result in infectious diseases, such as gastroenteritis, cholera, and typhoid, among others. Reduction of waterborne diseases and development of safe water resources is a major public health goal in developing countries. '''In 2017, almost 22 million Americans drank from water systems that were in violation of public health standards, which could develop water-borne illnesses. ''' Bottled water is sold for public consumption in most parts of the world.

Noise pollution
While the elderly may have cardiac problems due to noise, according to the World Health Organization, children are especially vulnerable to noise, and the effects that noise has on children may be permanent. Noise poses a serious threat to a child's physical and psychological health, and may negatively interfere with a child's learning and behavior. Exposure to persistent noise pollution shows how important environmental health is in keeping children and elderly healthy.

Environmental racism
Environmental racism impacts the health of the communities affected by poor environments. Various factors that can cause health problems include exposure to hazardous chemical toxins in landfills and rivers. Exposure to these toxins can also weaken or slow brain development. These hazards also affect the health of individuals living in these communities, showing how environmental health is important to ensure that vulnerable populations are able to live healthy alongside the environment.

Climate change and its effects on health
Documented infectious disease impacts of climate change include increased malaria and dengue, which are expected to worsen as climate change results in extreme weather conditions and higher temperatures. Aside from contributing to their spread, climate change will probably cause the emergence of new infectious diseases and change the epidemiology of many existing diseases. Climate change increases pandemic risks. Climate change and its increasing effects on health is covered by public health professionals under environmental health, which examines how the natural and built environment affects human health.

Air quality
Air pollution has both acute and chronic effects on human health, affecting a number of different systems and organs. It ranges from minor upper respiratory irritation to chronic respiratory and heart disease, lung cancer, acute respiratory infections in children and chronic bronchitis in adults, aggravating pre-existing heart and lung disease, or asthmatic attacks. In addition, short and long term exposures have also been linked with premature mortality and reduced life expectancy. Diseases that develop from persistent exposure to air pollution are environmental health diseases, which develop when a healthy environment is not maintained.

Water pollution
A study published in 2017 stated that "polluted water spread gastrointestinal diseases and parasitic infections and killed 1.8 million people" (these are also referred to as waterborne diseases). '''Persistent exposure to pollutants through water are environmental health hazards, which can increase the likelihood for one to develop cancer or other diseases. '''

Health effects from noise
Traffic noise may also increase the risk of sleep disturbances, stroke, diabetes, and becoming overweight. '''Noise pollution is an environmental health concern since it is often a risk factor for other developing diseases, like tinnitus or impaired speech discrimination. '''

Natural disaster
A natural disaster may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage. '''Natural disasters are environmental health concerns since extreme weather events increase the likelihood of undernutrition, mortality, and infectious diseases in vulnerable populations. '''

Climate migrant
There are both short- and long-term impacts of climate change which bring under-prepared communities environmental harm and exacerbate existing inequities. In the short-term, sudden climatic events like severe storms and natural disasters may destroy critical infrastructure, flood neighborhoods, disrupt transit systems, overburden medical centers, cause food and water shortages, destabilize energy plants, and jeopardize human health and well-being. In the long-term, famines, droughts, and other resource shortages and economic damages brought about by climate change may cause conflict, political instability, climate gentrification, and accumulated negative health effects due to exposure to unhealthy environments. Just as individuals and countries do not contribute equally to climate change, they also do not experience the negative effects of the crisis equally. The health impacts of climate change fall under environmental health concerns, which investigates how to create a healthy environment for vulnerable populations.