PUB332 Assignment: Environmental Health Hazards and Risks Analysis

This assignment delves into the realm of environmental health, emphasizing its significance in contemporary life. It begins by defining environmental health as a branch of public health focused on environmental risk factors and their impact on health and quality of life, referencing the World Health Organization's (WHO) statistics on deaths attributable to environmental factors. The paper then focuses on air pollution as a major modern hazard, discussing its sources (factories, construction, automobiles), its widespread effects, and its links to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. It also examines the health consequences of asbestos exposure and the depletion of the ozone layer, highlighting the increased risk of skin cancers and cataracts. The assignment underscores the necessity of a collective approach to address environmental health challenges, involving all sectors of society, and provides relevant references to support the discussed concepts.

Environmental health 1
Environmental health
Authors name
Institutional affiliation.

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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

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the number of deaths that could be averted if measures were taken to control air pollution. The
construction industry has had to limit the use of asbestos following the emergence of lung
cancers and mesotheliomas resulting from inhalation of its fibers. It is a deadly cancer affecting
the pleural and peritoneal cavities. Limiting the use of asbestos controls, the prevalence of the
cancer (Ghio, Soukup, Dailey, Richards, & Tong, 2016).
There has been a rising concern on the depletion of ozone layer. The release of halogens
into the atmosphere has been linked to this phenomenon. Ozone layer acts like a filter preventing
the harmful sunrays from reaching the earth surface. The depletion translates to harmful rays
reaching human beings and animals. Large amounts of ultraviolet rays trigger spontaneous
mutations on skin cells. This has led to a rise of skin cancers and cataracts (Mancebo & Wang,
2015).
Environmental health focuses on establishing the association between the environmental
factors and the health of the public. The issue affects everybody, those who actively emit the
pollutants and those who take preventive measures. It thus needs a collective approach from all
sectors.

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References.
Brauer, M., Freedman, G., Frostad, J., Van Donkelaar, A., Martin, R. V., Dentener, F., ... &
Balakrishnan, K. (2015). Ambient air pollution exposure estimation for the global burden
of disease 2013. Environmental science & technology, 50(1), 79-88.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.5b03709#3ab7fde8-8423-410a-89d0-
b202c470a197-b6de7b7c-de82-45a5-9538-313dd15c6659
Friis, R. H. (2018). Essentials of environmental health. Jones & bartlett learning.
https://books.google.co.ke/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=L4bsu11O9RQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&ots=SC9aNCpx3Y&sig=sJkrWbgE
vlJM36BdAtVwZtfAWok&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Ghio, A. J., Soukup, J. M., Dailey, L. A., Richards, J. H., & Tong, H. (2016). The biological
effect of asbestos exposure is dependent on changes in iron homeostasis. Inhalation
toxicology, 28(14), 698-705.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08958378.2016.1257665
Mancebo, S. E., & Wang, S. Q. (2015). Recognizing the impact of ambient air pollution on skin
health. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, 29(12),
2326-2332.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jdv.13250
Tiwary, A., & Williams, I. (2018). Air pollution: measurement, modelling and mitigation. CRC
Press.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781498719469

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World Health Organization. (2016). Ambient air pollution: A global assessment of exposure and
burden of disease.
https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/250141