Outline
Environmental Health and Sustainable Development
I. Introduction
II. What is Environmental Health?
III. The Disciplinary Conflict Between Health and Environment
IV. Environmental Health in the Sustainable Development
V. Strategies for Environmental Health
VI. Conclusions
Environmental Health and Sustainable Development
Today, contemporary humans check how the technic and progress develop; but also involves it, there are concerns about the continuing deterioration of the environment. The environmental problem is deeply related to the link that men have with the environment. The demographic factor with the use and consumption of all natural or industrialized resources which humans use throughout our life, plus the social, economic and cultural infrastructure involved, are determining factors in the emission of pollutants, harming the environment and human health. (1.2)
Health and development have a direct connection. Both, insufficient development leading to poverty and inappropriate development resulting in overconsumption, coupled with an expanding world population, can result in severe health problems related to the environment in developed countries and in developing countries. The health of a community is directly related to factors that influence the relationship between health and disease, and the basic human need for a safe environment. (3)
Action items addresses the need for primary health care of the population, and promote the integration with the objectives of sustainable development, taking into account environmental issues. Linking improvements of health, environmental and socio-economic nature is through environmental health; which requires the implementation of intersectoral activities. These activities are formed by the areas of education, housing, public works and community groups, including businesses, schools and universities and religious, civic and cultural organizations. (4)
The World Health Constitution, defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or disability" (1948). This is the most usual definition for modern health. The concepts of disease, disability and death tend to be much easier for health professionals that the concept of health. They have proposed similar definitions of environment within a framework of health. The atmosphere was defined in Law No. 81 of the Environment of Cuba (Cuba, Official Gazette 1997) as "system abiotic, biotic and socio-economic which interact with the man, while adapting to it, transforms it and uses it to meet their needs. " Climate change caused by humans is mainly due to the accumulation of gases "greenhouse" (GIV) in the atmosphere as a result of activities such as the use of fossil fuels, large-scale deforestation and the rapid expansion of the irrigated agriculture. The most important GIV are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N20), ozone (O3) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), whose concentrations are rising since the mid-eighteenth century.
The poor living and working conditions with the lack of education are the most important health impairments. Through the years it has come to the conclusion that they can not make achievements in health if no substantial changes are made in economic and social conditions.
It is expected that climate change entails direct and indirect effects on health. Direct effects, and the potential for increased deaths due to the increased frequency and severity of heat waves, are obviously easier to predict than indirect effects. The latter, mediated by the alteration of ecosystems, changes could include levels of food production that influence the nutrition of people. Similarly, changes in distribution patterns of vector populations would change to turn the incidence diseases, like malaria and others, with this form of transmission in large areas of the world, including some of which today are free from them. Increased air pollution, especially in cities, because of the combined effects of increasing levels of ultraviolet radiation on photochemical reactions at ground level and higher temperatures, would be a clear example of indirect effect in the ecosystem. Indirect effects are extremely difficult to assess, given the large number and diversity of variables involved. In addition, the relative importance of the different components of climate change will vary depending on the health impacts considered (McMichael et al. 1996).
As you can be seen in the book Our Planet, Our Health (WHO 1992), the responsibility to protect and promote health extends to all groups in society. Responsibility for health is not just the professionals who traditionally care of public health (doctors, nurses, staff health safety and sanitary engineers) who seek to cure disease, heal the sick, to eliminate pathogens and reduce damage. Health is now clearly the responsibility of designers, architects, teachers, industrial managers and all others who influence the physical or social environment. Naturally, health professionals have a special role in environmental health, but they need to work with all groups in society to promote health (Yassi et al. 2000).
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) was one of the most important initiatives of the 1990s with remarkable relevance, Principle 1 of the Declaration of Rio de Janeiro he states: "Human beings are the center of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature ".
This statement has universal validity independent of time. A process that has as its ultimate goal the human being can not be considered as development oriented and in that sense the health of people is both a goal and a prime requirement. Healthy people are more productive, and a high level of health in the community avoids spending to deal with diseases, conditions and social problems. Those who care about human health development jargons prefer to characterize as human development. Such is the origin of our determination to promote action to harmonize aspects of health and environment in sustainable human development.
The interdisciplinary nature of the main elements of environmental health, are: a) how environmental factors affect health, and b) how current environmental trends are changing models of health risks (12, 13.14), which respond to events in the environment of man and which are poverty, rapid population growth and consumption exacerbated in some countries that maintain styles of inappropriate development.
In this context, some of the environmental factors affecting health are: the supply of drinking water and sanitation; housing and habitat; the nutrition; environmental pollution; the use of chemicals and occupational risks (15,16). While some environmental trends affecting health are: population and settlement patterns; poverty and underdevelopment; the increased use of resources; macroeconomic policies; cross-border trends; the lack of social equity. (17,18)
Human health ultimately depends on the ability of a society to improve the interaction between human activities and the physical, chemical and biological environments. This should be done so as to safeguard and promote human health and threatens the integrity of natural systems of which depends on the environment.
The report "Our Common Future" sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" is defined .5
The World Health Organization classifies risks as "traditional risks" and "modern hazards". "Traditional risks" are those related to poverty and lack of development, namely: no access to potable water and sanitation, urban sanitation services, housing and indoor air pollution from burning coal or oil. "Modern risks" are those related to development, but lack of safeguards regarding environmental hazards to health; for example: water pollution, intensive industry, intensive agriculture, vehicular and industrial air pollution, radioactive contamination, among others.5
In developed countries are virtually nonexistent traditional risks and, on the other hand, modern risks are of a wide variety. In the developing countries are highly prevalent traditional risks, and modern moderate to high risk. Therefore, as many developing countries have both types of risk, it is said that they are in a stage of "transitional risk" .4
Basic sanitation and environmental quality are the two elements that define the needs of action of the Pan American Health Organization in the Region of the Americas.
In the area of basic sanitation activities related to improving the basic conditions that affect health, namely, water supply, sewage disposal, solid waste, housing and vermin control are contemplated. Among the operational components of basic sanitation, they are: potable water, sewage; excreta disposal in rural areas, urban sanitation, improved housing, food protection, control vermin and control of zoonosis. (22)
While in the area of environmental quality indicates the characterization of the impact of development, such as environmental pollution and its effect on public health. The operational components of environmental quality, refer to seven items involving global challenges to health and the environment; food and agriculture; Water; industry; human settlements and urbanization; and cross-border and international problems. (23)
Between 25 and 30% of the global disease burden has been estimated as attributable to the environment. However, quantitative information on health impacts is very small, and their importance to national and sub-national levels. The potential environmental health to prevent disease could be better used and expressed in units so that were comparable to those decision makers in the health sector.
Many tools, concepts and methodologies have been proposed in the last ten years to evaluate the area of environmental health in many different ways. PAHO-WHO has promoted the use of some of them, such as the HEADLAMP process under the DPSEEA and health situation and environment and, more recently, has been incorporated into the impact assessment and health burden related illness with environmental hazards. Many in the region of the Americas countries have been using or planning to use one or another methodology, aimed at environmental problems (Kay et al. 2000).
In November 1999, PAHO holds a meeting in Washington D.C., with the goal of developing a regional plan for the implementation and consolidation of the area of environmental health in the region. The proposal was made with the concept of Environmental Health Surveillance, using the framework to develop indicators DPSEEA according to the main problems in the countries. Three countries (Brazil, Chile and Mexico) presented related to the use of this methodology studies, illustrating its usefulness for assessing the different risk indicators.
Increasing evidence of the links between health and environment then becomes available and new opportunities to quantify the health impact due to the environment at the population level. Assessing the Environmental Burden of Disease (Environmental Burden of Disease) is a tool for quantification and measurement of environmental impact on a unit that is comparable to the impact of other risk factors and disease (Murray and Lopez 1999).
Natural and social diversity, coupled with the multidisciplinary environmental health, faces seeking holistic and systematic actions, so it is impossible to pretend to be scientific interpretation of one particular discipline. Therefore the environmental problem which is currently patent lawsuit incorporating new skills, eliminating the subordination of many disciplines to rationality one, and finally that interdisciplinarity is not a sum of sectoral capacities but must be understood as an active interaction around a specific situation of environmental health. And whose management tools are in the Strategic Orientations and Program Priorities of the Pan American Health Organization, Agenda 21, Declaration of Puerto Rico (Water and Sanitation), Global Strategy of the World Health Organization Health and the Environment Regional Plan for Investment in Environment and Health (PIAS), Pan American Charter on Health and Environment.
The state of human health is a reflection of a wide variety of complex interactions between the internal biological system and the external environmental system as a whole. However, some population groups, either because of their lifestyle, occupation, location or consumption patterns have a distinct vulnerability to health risks and specific threats. This, combined with exposure to different hazards, may place the group at highest risk (TERI, 1998). Thus, the health effects of environmental change in particular should be determined within the context of other effects and coexistent, such as rapid urbanization, environmental occurrences, the density of human population and increased mobility, greater movement of production, resource depletion, desertification and pollution.
Human health may be a victim of degradation and environmental change. Ecosystems that are sufficiently stable and biologically diverse tend to maintain the quality of human life. Or degraded ecosystems have come down, aquatic and terrestrial environments, appear to have a significant impact on human health. An example of this is the polluted water that causes millions of preventable every year and especially in children (Annex) deaths.
Participation can be a very difficult process. Some reasons for this are the conflict of the priorities and / or cultures within communities or between them and undesirable impacts occurring in adjacent levels and other incongruities; but nonetheless, participation seems to lead development projects to the overall development of the community.
The long-term success in managing the health of ecosystems and improving human health require ultimately "illustrated empower communities with knowledge" .13
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