ENVIRONMENT,ECOLOGY& HYGIENE
PART 2
• Environmental health is broader than hygiene and sanitation; it encompasses hygiene, sanitation and many other aspects of the environment that are not included in this Module such as global warming, climate change, radiation, gene technology, flooding and natural disasters. It also involves studying the environmental factors that affect health.
The World Health Organization’s definition is as follows:
• Environmental health addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the related factors impacting behaviors.
• It encompasses the assessment and control of those environmental factors that can potentially affect health.
Below table describes the areas of environmental health and hygiene that will be of importance to you as a health worker and that you will learn about in the rest of this Module.
The World Health Organization’s definition is as follows:
• Environmental health addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the related factors impacting behaviors.
• It encompasses the assessment and control of those environmental factors that can potentially affect health.
Below table describes the areas of environmental health and hygiene that will be of importance to you as a health worker and that you will learn about in the rest of this Module.
CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES IN HYGIENE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
We will consider diarrhoea, which is a symptom of many common diseases, as a means to understand the concept of disease transmission, the role of environmental health and the framework for hygienic improvements.
Environmental health and disease transmission
• The description of diarrhoea transmission represents a good way to understand the pathways of disease through the environment and how environmental health and hygiene can help prevent disease transmission.
Below picture shows the different pathways of transmission through the environment. The source of diarrhoea is the agent or carrier who discharges infected faeces to the environment. To remember the possible pathways we can use the six ‘F’s:
We will consider diarrhoea, which is a symptom of many common diseases, as a means to understand the concept of disease transmission, the role of environmental health and the framework for hygienic improvements.
Environmental health and disease transmission
• The description of diarrhoea transmission represents a good way to understand the pathways of disease through the environment and how environmental health and hygiene can help prevent disease transmission.
Below picture shows the different pathways of transmission through the environment. The source of diarrhoea is the agent or carrier who discharges infected faeces to the environment. To remember the possible pathways we can use the six ‘F’s:
• Faeces: resulting from defecation.
• Fluids: through contaminated water and other contaminated liquids.
• Fingers: contaminated fingers transmit diseases.
• Flies: all sorts of animals such as flies can carry and transmit diseases.
• Fomites or fields: fomites are inanimate objects that carry the infectious agent (e.g. dishes, cups and other contaminated surfaces in contact with food or water).
• Food: infected by fluids, flies, fingers or fomites and then eaten.
• Fluids: through contaminated water and other contaminated liquids.
• Fingers: contaminated fingers transmit diseases.
• Flies: all sorts of animals such as flies can carry and transmit diseases.
• Fomites or fields: fomites are inanimate objects that carry the infectious agent (e.g. dishes, cups and other contaminated surfaces in contact with food or water).
• Food: infected by fluids, flies, fingers or fomites and then eaten.
THE PLACE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IN YOUR COMMUNITY
• Our living environment is composed of home, work and recreational centres where people spend their time. Water, air and food are our concern.
• The provision of environmental health services extends to all these aspects of our lives.
ENVIRONMENTAL INTERVENTION MODELS
• According to the Federal Ministry of Health, more than 80% of communicable diseases in Ethiopia are believed to be preventable using environmental health interventions.
• Generally, there are two intervention models: the clinical intervention model, which looks at treating the sick person, and the public health model, including environmental health, which looks at how to stop people getting sick in the first place by providing a healthy environment.
• Health intervention models for the prevention and control of communicable diseases.
• The clinical intervention model focuses on the treatment of patients, while the public health intervention model concentrates on the maintenance of health through education and keeping the environment safe. The arrows indicate the points of intervention.
• If we look at these two models in a wider context, then there are additional factors that must be considered.
• These include having helpful local policies, appropriate community (kebele) level organisations, sanitation legislation, developing sanitation technology options and poverty alleviation efforts.
• Political will in policy development in health and environmental health, designing the hygiene and sanitation legal frameworks and long-term socio-economic developments, are aspects of the government’s responsibilities.
• As a Health Extension Practitioner you have an important role in the prevention of environmental hazards that affect the health of the public.
• We have learned in previous Modules that infectious agents play a part in the transmission of disease. Infectious agents are pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa and parasites.
• To cause a disease, they must be introduced into our bodies in sufficient quantities.
• The environmental conditions and practices that facilitate the carrying of such infectious agents into our bodies are termed environmental risk factors.
• A good example is drinking water, which can be contaminated by human faecal matter that contains these infectious agents.
• When this water is consumed, we are likely to get diarrhoeal diseases.
• There are other ways that infectious agents can get into our bodies; for example, the air we breathe can be contaminated by droplets that come out of a patient’s lungs when they breathe or cough.
• TB and pneumonia are droplet-related infections that are transmitted in this way.
• There are also diseases and conditions that are not caused by pathogenic organisms, but are caused by other environmental risk factors, which may be due to chemicals or physical hazards such as noise.
• Major environmental risks and examples of the diseases and conditions that are related to these risks are indicated in Table Further descriptions of these diseases can be found in the Communicable Diseases and Non-Communicable Diseases, Emergency Care and Mental Health Modules.
To be Continued in Part 3
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