Environmental Health Report: Factors Impacting Health in Delhi

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of health, focusing on the city of Delhi. It explores the influence of geographical factors, such as climate and pollution, on public health, highlighting the impact of air quality and environmental hazards. The report further examines population characteristics, including density and socioeconomic disparities, and their correlation with health outcomes, such as malnutrition and chronic diseases. It also delves into the role of social and economic development, discussing the effects of poverty, unemployment, and access to healthcare. Political governance and its influence on public health initiatives, such as vaccination programs, are also considered. Furthermore, the report investigates biological and environmental determinants, including the impact of pollution on genetic disorders and the health of newborns. Finally, it examines social and behavioral determinants, such as lifestyle choices and gender inequality, and their effects on mental and physical health. The report concludes by emphasizing the interconnectedness of these factors and the need for governmental and individual efforts to promote a healthier environment and lifestyle.

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DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

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Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Geographical determinants of health:..............................................................................................3
Population characteristic:.................................................................................................................4
Natural environment and hazard factors:.........................................................................................5
Level of social and economic development:...................................................................................5
Political governance:.......................................................................................................................6
Biological and Environmental Determinants of Health:.................................................................7
Social and Behavioral Determinants of Health:..............................................................................8
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................9
References:......................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction:
There are many factors which generally affect the human health both in positive and negative
sense. At different stages of life health is governed by socioeconomic factors along with
geographical and population, biological and environmental influences. These factors always
denote whether the person is leading a healthy life or not. This kind of circumstances shows their
mental and physical status. The geographic area shows in which climate we do live and how the
climate of that area influences our everyday life. With the help of economic factor we can easily
assume the background of those people which may help us to understand whether the person is
leading healthy life or not. We cannot maintain our health without a shortage of penny. Thus
economic and financial status is the most important factor in such cases. Population also plays a
major part to understand the health condition.
Geographical determinants of health:
Health and geography are linked together very much. Our birth place, working area, study place
etc directly affect our health experiences like the air we take for breathing, the foods and
vegetables we take for our apatite and also several determinants and viruses present within
atmosphere 8. Delhi is the capital of India and one of the most developed urban areas in India. In
case of this selected geographic area Delhi, it is one of the most polluted cities not only in India
but throughout the world. The air quality index is gradually decreasing over last ten years. This
situation creates a huge negative impact on the life of those people who stays there. The climate

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of Delhi is very dry. In the time of monsoon the climate stays humid and semiarid, in the time of
summer and winter the climate become very dry and every condition goes to the extreme 15. This
will create huge negative impact on agriculture which will also not beneficial for the mankind.
People are often dying here due to sunstroke and dehydration in summer due to this geographical
climate condition. In winter people here is dying with cold, asthma and pneumonia also. Most of
the people here affected with lung cancer and various other lung diseases due to the air pollution.
Population characteristic:
According to the global population counting process the population of Delhi occupied second
highest position in the global ranking. This also have a huge impact on the health condition of
this existing population. Increasing population is one of the major causes behind the
malnutrition, unemployment3. Most of the people are here belongs to the below poverty level and
they stays in the slum area. In such area people are generally get affected various chronic
diseases like diarrhea, hepatitis, cholera and typhoid also. All of these mentioned diseases are
infected through water as they cannot afford purified water. This overpopulation condition
creates shortage of food which is the major cause of malnutrition. These conditions are generally
found in the children of this area. Most of the children here are affected with pneumonia,
gastritis, crohn’s disease. Most of all they get affected to any kind of infectious disease as they
have less immunity power inside their body. In case of overpopulation the people are mostly
affected with unemployment. For this reason people here cannot afford nutritious foods, health
care support, purified water, good quality education also. This kind of situation generally occurs
due to lack of education, religious bindings, superstitions and lack of family planning
knowledge.

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Natural environment and hazard factors:
As we already discussed here that the population is rapidly increasing in Delhi thus to give them
shelter our government cut down the maximum number of trees from this city. Instead of trees
they made a huge buildings and sky scrapers to accommodate the large number of population.
For this reason the environment is vastly changing day by day. Global warming becomes a huge
issue just because of people cutting down maximum number of trees for their own reason. We all
know trees binding the soil with their roots which actually prevents the soil erosion. In such way
trees prevent the soil from the rain water. Trees can block flood condition also. Thus cutting
down trees always having negative impact, not only on the environment also on the health of the
people also. Apart from the overpopulation Delhi is precisely known for its air quality index
also. Most of the time in winter Delhi has been covers with smog (combination of smoke and
fog) condition. We all know Delhi is one of the popular megacities in India. Thus it consists of
various industries which emits large amount of carbon-di-oxide, carbon-monoxide and various
other substances. These will pollute the air mostly. Industrial smoke is not the only reasons
behind the pollution, smoke emission from vehicles are also the most important reason. For this
reason most of the people of this city are affected with chronic pulmonary disorders, lung
cancers etc.
Level of social and economic development:
Social and economic circumstances have also the most mixed impact on the health of the people
of this area. People who are belongs to a higher economic background also are suffering with
health issues which are correlated to the social factors as well. People from this environment

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mostly affected with stress, depression n various other mental health disorder due to lack of
social interaction, lots of work pressure and unhealthy diet and living scenarios 5. People who are
belongs to lower economic status have different kind of problems which are also related with
their social circumstances. In such cases people are generally suffered with malnutrition, stress
and depression also due to unemployment, family pressure 6. In those case it can be seen that
most of the people are addicted with unusual substances also which not only damaging their
health also destroying their family life. People who are belonging to high economic background
mostly get affected with obesity, diabetes and various other diseases. In their cases they have not
get that much time to take a healthy proper dietary foods or proper nutritious food. Most of the
time they are in taking fast foods which are the main reason behind all of their problems. People
from this background are also addicted with alcohol and sometimes drugs also. These are
considered as the very harmful substances of human kind. People who are belong to lower
economic background mostly affected with malnutrition as they are suffering with
unemployment. The ever increasing price of the foods are also forced them to stay unhealthy as
they cannot afford high protein consisting foods. Poverty is also a major reason behind
depression and addiction of harmful substances 14.
Political governance:
Political influence also plays a very important role incases of the health determination of the
people of India especially in Delhi. We can consider this as a positive influence on the public
health. But it has some negative impacts also. From past few years WHO declared India is a
polio free country 4. No new born child ever affected with this disease right now. Government
takes a very effective and meaningful step to control this polio condition a long time ago.

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Government of India started a campaign on this polio vaccination, their motto was making this
country polio free and they made it. They took help of various influential personalities to
promote their campaign. With the help of those personalities they were able to reach most of
number of people and they can also create the awareness among the people who are from lower
economic background 7. With the help of this political influence most of the health care sector
promoting blood donation campaign, anti tobacco campaign etc. Delhi is also famous for AIIMS
which is considered as one of the finest hospital among the country. This health care sector is a
government sector and best quality medical facilities and support also 9. Those all are considered
as the positive effects but there are some negative effects are also present especially in this city.
Some of the corrupt politicians taking advantages their power and position and taking all kind of
benefits for themselves and their families also.
Biological and Environmental Determinants of Health:
We already discussed about the climate and environmental influences on the public health. This
factor not only damages the existing public health it also damages the health of the new born
also. This polluted environment not only damages the circulatory or respiratory system it also
damages the central nervous system of human also. Thus those who are pregnant with a child
must keep themselves away from any kind of direct and indirect smoke intake 10. As we all know
Delhi is very famous for their air quality index thus pregnant woman must stay away from this
area during their pregnancy period. With the effect of this smoke the genes are muted, thus some
genetic disorders take place. In such case this mutilated genes are generally transfer to their next
generation 11. Thus the new born child born with various difficulties 13. Some of the children are
born with defective eyesight which is considered one of the main reasons behind this pollution.

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This kind of difficulties cannot be cured properly as it is genetic disorder. Some of the children
are born with autism. In this condition children have face so many difficulties to communicate
with people. Some children are born with partially defective hearing ability. All of these
difficulties are take place only due to environmental imbalance and pollution 12.
Social and Behavioral Determinants of Health:
Behavioral factors are always depends upon the health condition of that person. In such
condition social circumstances also plays a very effective part on the behaviors of that particular
person 1. This behavior generally depends upon the financial condition of the people of this area.
The people who are socially active and leading a healthy life generally has low risk to get
affected with some kind of health related issues. But the people who are generally leading very
reckless lifestyle generally having high risk to get affected with various healths related issues.
Those people who are leading reckless life are generally suffering with mental health disorders.
Most of them are affected with stress, anxiety and depression. They are generally behaving
normal in publically but mostly they are avoiding the socialization 2. This kind of situation
generally comes because of the poverty, drug and alcohol consumption and smoking also.
Gender inequality also creates lots of tension among people. In Delhi according to the sex ratio
females counts are much lower than the males as still most of the family consider a girl as a
burden of their family. Thus in most family girls are treated very badly. Some of them are getting
affected with mental trauma and depression which may lead them towards suicidal attempts also
16.

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Conclusion:
With the help of this detailed study and research we can understand that health is always depends
upon some external factors. Health is always considered as wealth by the people of this country,
but some people neglect their health issues for some external factors. These situations must not
be entertained. People must maintain good habits like eating nutritious foods, exercising
regularly and leading normal peaceful lifestyle. In case of some economic factors people cannot
maintain theses conditions as their financial state does not permit them to leading those lifestyle.
In such cases governmental authorities need to take some drastic steps in order to solve this kind
of situation. Ibn case the environmental factprs as we can see that environment highly influence
the health of people thus only we can take initiative to maintain our environment healthy. In this
case the one thing we must need to do which is planting more and more trees. This will reduce
the temperature of the environment and also it will reduce the air pollution also. as we know this
pollution generally occurs due to excessive amount of carbon-monoxide and carbon-di-oxide
emission. Trees are generally taking carbon-di-oxide during photosynthesis. Thus if we plant
more trees our air will become purified as trees will use most of the environmental carbon-di-
oxide as their ingredients of photosynthesis.
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