Environmental deterioration and human health: An overview

Abstract

Ever since people have utilised natural resources, environmental quality has started to deteriorate. The increasing incidences of air pollution, water pollution, land and soil pollution, solid and hazardous waste pollution, deforestation, soil erosion, silting and flooding are illustrations of environmental quality deterioration. The deteriorating quality of the environment slowly, but steadily, poses a threat to human security. These threats include increasing exposure to infectious diseases, water scarcity, food scarcity, natural disasters and population displacement. Taken together, they may represent the greatest public health challenge humanity has ever faced. There always seem to be intermediaries connecting the change in the ecosystem and human health. For example, such environmental changes as climate change, land degradation and aquifer depletion seriously affect agricultural production. Agricultural production is a major determinant of nutritional status and population health. Hence, human health is affected by producing or consuming agricultural products and not directly by land degradation or aquifer depletion. However, there are some environmental changes that directly affect the quality of human health, such as a rise in temperature, which causes thermal stresses, respiratory problems and deterioration of aquatic ecosystems leading to waterborne diseases. Other health impacts of the ecosystem degradation may be exacerbated by changes in other systems and processes, such as proliferation of bacteria, distribution of vector organisms or quality and availability of water supplies. The significant changes in health conditions and emergence of new diseases require understanding and are calling for new solutions in implementation of environmental health policies.