Environmental Issues and Impact on Health in a Poor and Affluent Neighbourhood

Public Health
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Identify and describe the neighbourhood:
Selected area is a slum in Wales. This area is approximately 1.1 square kilometres.
Population of this area is around 150000. This area is surrounded by number of industries and
most of the people residing in this area are working as workers in these industries. This area
is having nearby posh area comprising of malls and supermarkets. Most of the people
residing in this area are below poverty line. People of this area are working on the contact
basis in nearby industries. Hence, these people are jobless most of the duration of the year.
These people are associated with alcohol consumption, poor nutrition and smoking. Air of
this area is contaminated with smoke from surrounding industries. Water is also contaminated
with the industrial waste. People residing in this area are multi-ethnic and multicultural.
There is poor sewage and drainage system in this area. Hence, this area can be considered as
poor and affluent area.
Fig : Greensland
Identify the environmental issues and their impact on health:
Both physical and social environment can impact significantly on the people residing in that
particular area. Poor and affluent neighbourhoods can bring multiple health effects on the
people around the society. People residing in the poor and affluent neighbourhoods and
mostly and it is evident that mortality rate is 50 % in poor people as compared to the rich
people due to poor health. Geographical variations in the neighbourhood can impact health in
different aspects like compositional, contextual, and collective (Tomljenović, 2015).
Compositional aspects include characteristics of the individual like poor hygiene,
malnutrition and drug and alcohol can impact health of the society. Contextual aspects
include structure of social and physical structure of the environment in the local area. It
includes healthy environment, good housing, availability of the health and social services and
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socioeconomic environment. Collective aspects include socio-cultural and historical features
of the people and their attributes towards the health (Doyle et al., 2006).
In terms of contextual aspects, there are presence of supermarkets near the poor and affluent
area. At the same time, there is lack of fitness centre in the neighbourhood area. Hence, it can
lead to development of obesity among the population of neighbourhood population. This
obesity is more common among the younger population of the neighbourhood population
because these people exhibit more attractiveness towards these supermarkets and fast food
centres for the consumption of unhealthy food (Frank et al., 2003). Moreover, people in the
neighbourhood area are mostly jobless. Hence, there is less physical activity. It is evident that
people in the poor and affluent area are associated with alcohol abuse and consume less
health food. These factors also can lead to development of obesity among these people.
Alcohol consumption can be more in more deprived area as compared to the less deprived
area. This alcohol consumption can lead to domestic violence and psychological stress among
the family members (Melis et al., 2015).
Violence can lead to injury to the family members and psychological stress can act triggering
factor for most of the metabolic disorders and psychological disorders including depression
and insomnia. Built environment can avail cleanliness, peacefulness, prospect of exercise and
social interaction among the people in the area. However, in the poor and affluent
neighboured, there is lack of built area. Hence, people of this area might not get all the
facilities and resources for maintaining optimal health (Giles-Corti & Donovan, 2002). Due
to lack of built space, there is lack of quality public space. Hence, it can adversely affect
social interaction among the people and consequently lead to lack of public spaces for
advocating health issues. Adverse neighbourhood conditions can make vulnerable people to
the unhealthy lifestyle. Hence, it can lead to unhealthy lifestyle like stress can lead unhealthy
eating habit which can develop obesity and related disorders among the population. Due to
lack of cleanliness, there can be spread of infection among the people. Moreover, these
people are not aware of the measures to maintain hygienic condition. Spread of infection can
be more common in women in the productive age as compared to the men. There can be
occurrence of multiple gynaecological issues can occur in these women and it can affect their
reproduction ability. Spread of infection can be mostly occur through the drinking water and
due to water stored water. As this area is densely populated, there is more possibility of
spread of infection. People in this area can’t avail isolated home due to dense population.
Hence, there is lack of peacefulness among these people. This lack of peacefulness can lead
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to psychological disorders stress, anxiety and insomnia. These psychological disorders are
evident more in the older people and it affects their mental well-being (Gale et al. 2011; Byck
et al., 2015)
Perceptions of the healthcare providers for poor and affluent societies can also impact health
of the neighbourhood population. Healthcare providers can have negative perception of the
people in such area due to their low-socioeconomic status and these healthcare providers are
not willing to visit these areas for providing healthcare services. Due to low-socioeconomic
status, these areas can be less aesthetic and less safe (Kamphuis et al., 2010). Collective
functioning and practices mentions socio-cultural and historical aspects like norms, values,
community support network, social unity, participatory efforts and social capital. As people
in this community are isolated from the people of the high-socioeconomic class, their norms
and values in relation to health are less. Hence, these people are ignorant of health concerns.
Hence, they are not aware of health issues and deprived of availing health services. In this
poor and affluent area there is no systematic record of the people residing in this area. Hence,
there are high chances of immigration to this area from another geographical area. This
immigration can bring multiple contagious diseases in this population (Bjornstrom, 2011).
In poor and affluent area air pollution is the major problem due to surrounding industrial area.
It has been estimated that approximately 2 million deaths can occur yearly due to air
pollution. Air pollution can produce respiratory infections, heart disorders and lung cancer
(Brugha & Grigg, 2014). Particulate matter, lead, nitrogen, sulphur and ozone are mainly
responsible for the air pollution. Large number of people in this area are having smoking
habit. It leads to the tobacco smoke as the biggest environmental can chemical hazard among
these population. Tobacco smoke can lead to different diseases like lung cancer, chronic
bronchitis, emphysema and diseases of blood vessels. Tobacco smoke can also affect other
people passively. Silhouette of a power station present around this locality is the prominent
source of airborne products of combustion (Samet, 2014).
Fig : Smoke from the industrial chimney
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