Environmental Health

Environmental health 1
Environmental health
Authors name
Institutional affiliation.

Environmental health 2
Environmental health
The state of health of an individual is product of the interplay of the genetic and
environmental factors in their life. Environmental health is a branch of public health that focuses
on the risk factors within the surrounding and their impact on health and the quality of life (Friis,
2018). It mainly takes a preventive approach where the environment is modified to prevent the
risk of disease infection and disability. It revolves around both manmade and natural factors
affecting human health. The main focus is usually on topics such as nutrition, exposure to
hazardous substances such as chemicals and contaminated food, natural disasters and those that
result from human beings. According to WHO (2016), about twenty-five percent of all deaths per
year can be attributed to environmental factors.
In the recent years, air pollution has become a major problem. The era of industrialization
has transformed the world to the better. However, it has also brought its share of harm despite
the growth experienced. The emissions from factories, construction sites and automobiles
contribute to this form of pollution. Air pollution is described as the release of harmful or
excessive quantities of substances, which includes gases, particles and biological molecules, into
the air (Tiwary & Williams, 2018). A large number of people, approximated to about half of the
world, do not have access to clean fuels (WHO, 2016). The alternative that is used, the dirty fuel,
is a major source of harmful emission. The WHO (2016) estimates that, about nine out of ten
people breath air that has been contaminated. This high levels of contamination have far reaching
consequences on the health of the public.
According to Brauer et al (2015), health effects of air pollution manifest commonly in the
respiratory and cardiovascular systems. About one third of all the deaths from stroke, lung cancer
and heart diseases can be attributed to air pollution (Brauer et al, 2015). These statistics represent