Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Environmental Health”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

Population health environmental indicators: ecologic monitoring of environment-related health and disease trends.

BACKGROUND: Current State of the Environment (SoE) reporting focuses primarily on indicators directly related to the physical environment such as climate, and air, water and soil quality. As the environment has both direct and indirect effects on human health, an opportunity exists to include environment-related human disease indicators as an SoE indicator theme. OBJECTIVE: To develop a set of population health environmental indicators (PHEIs, phi s) that can illustrate environment-related disease (ERD) trends at the population level. METHODS: A literature review was conducted on environmental health monitoring and the current knowledge of environmental effects on human health. Key PHEIs were identified and routine health data collections accessed and analysed to illustrate temporal and geographic trends. RESULTS: Diseases with an environmental aetiology are tabulated and examples are given of the type and range of PHEIs that can be developed for an Australian geographic area. CONCLUSIONS: Illustrating environmental degradation in terms of resultant human diseases is a potent tool for promoting environmental protection measures. This paper examines a range of PHEIs that may be used as indicators of both environmental disease and environmental quality. IMPLICATIONS: PHEIs could be developed as a useful SoE indicator theme, and as a tool to help foster the convergence which is occurring between environmental health and public health fields.

Australia↗
PubMed2005

Incorporating environmental health into practice: the expanded role of the occupational health nurse.

Principles of environmental health relevant today were taught by Florence Nightingale and helped shape early nursing practice. Since then, nursing's emphasis shifted, but is now returning to its historical roots in environmental health. A broad understanding of environmental health is essential for all health professionals. Occupational health nurses are in a unique position to apply environmental health concepts in their practices. Occupational health nurses should be familiar with models that integrate environmental health, pollution prevention, and worker safety and health to develop strategies within their own worksites and industries, and expand their role in environmental health.

Environmental Health↗
PubMed2004

Application of health promotion theories and models for environmental health.

The field of environmental health promotion gained new prominence in recent years as awareness of physical environmental stressors and exposures increased in communities across the country and the world. Although many theories and conceptual models are used routinely to guide health promotion and health education interventions, they are rarely applied to environmental health issues. This article examine show health promotion theories and models can be applied in designing interventions to reduce exposure to environmental health hazards. Using the Community Action Against Asthma (CAAA) project as an example, this article describes the application of these theories and models to an intervention aimed at reducing environmental triggers for childhood asthma. Drawing on the multiple theories and models described, a composite ecological stress process model is presented, and its implications for environmental health promotion discussed.

Asthma↗
PubMed1998

Linking research and policy to ensure children's environmental health.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has made protecting children's environmental health its highest priority. Data on how and when children may be at risk are vital for accomplishing this goal. Recent examples of the link between research and policy include U.S. EPA actions to carry out the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences on pesticides in children's food, reduce and prevent childhood lead poisoning, and revise national ambient air quality standards for ozone and particulate matter. Today, the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), which makes protecting children from pesticide residues in food a national priority, is contributing to the growing need for data for decision making. Further impetus comes from provisions in the FQPA and 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments for establishing a screening and testing program for potential risks from endocrine disruptors. Another factor is the analysis that will be required under President William J. Clinton's executive order directing all federal agencies, for the first time, to reduce environmental health and safety risks to children. Success of the U.S. international commitment to protect children is directly tied to the strength and availability of environmental data. To meet such challenges, the U.S. EPA is revising key science policies, expanding research opportunities, and adding to the public's right-to-know tools. In this dynamic climate, there are growing opportunities for the research community to play a greater role in helping ensure the well-being of children living today and in generations to come.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Public, animal, and environmental health implications of aquaculture.

Aquaculture is important to the United States and the world's fishery system. Both import and export markets for aquaculture products will expand and increase as research begins to remove physiologic and other animal husbandry barriers. Overfishing of wild stock will necessitate supplementation and replenishment through aquaculture. The aquaculture industry must have a better understanding of the impact of the "shrouded" public and animal health issues: technology ignorance, abuse, and neglect. Cross-pollination and cross-training of public health and aquaculture personnel in the effect of public health, animal health, and environmental health on aquaculture are also needed. Future aquaculture development programs require an integrated Gestalt public health approach to ensure that aquaculture does not cause unacceptable risks to public or environmental health and negate the potential economic and nutritional benefits of aquaculture.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Comment: Toward a coordinated system for the surveillance of environmental health hazards.

The rapid increases in the numbers and quantities of chemicals released into the environment have been accompanied by a lack of adequate prerelease testing for adverse health outcomes. Environmental health surveillance is used both to track changes in exposures that are known to have adverse health effects and to identify previously unrecognized hazards. Surveillance data can directly aid in the design of interventions to reduce the level of hazardous agents in the environment or the opportunities for human contact with them. Components of an ideal environmental health surveillance system are discussed. For well-recognized hazards, databases related to exposure alone are adequate. However, for uncovering previously unrecognized associations, linkage between exposure and outcome databases that are collected or aggregated at the same geographic scale and for regions of relatively homogeneous exposures are needed.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed1998

Expanding horizons. Integrating environmental health in occupational health nursing.

1. Environmental hazards are ubiquitous. Many exist in the workplace or occur as a result of work process exposures. 2. Environmental health is a natural component of the expanding practice of occupational health nursing. 3. AAOHN's vision for occupational and environmental health will continue to set the standard and provide leadership in the specialty.

Databases, Factual↗
PubMed2004

Understanding wicked problems: a key to advancing environmental health promotion.

Complex environmental health problems--like air and water pollution, hazardous waste sites, and lead poisoning--are in reality a constellation of linked problems embedded in the fabric of the communities in which they occur. These kinds of complex problems have been characterized by some as "wicked problems" wherein stakeholders may have conflicting interpretations of the problem and the science behind it, as well as different values, goals, and life experiences. Accordingly, policy makers, public health professionals, and other stakeholders who grapple with these problems cannot expect to effectively resolve them by relying solely on expert-driven approaches to problem solving. Rather, they need to acknowledge that wicked environmental health problems are most likely to yield to (1) the application of effective community health promotion skills, (2) a sustained commitment to sound toxicological and epidemiological science, (3) the application of systems thinking, and (4) transparent communication among all stakeholders.

Community Health Planning↗
PubMed1980

Should health systems agencies be involved in environmental health planning?

Public Law 93-641 provides health systems agencies (HSAs) with a broad planning preview which has enabled a number of agencies to address environmental health issues in their health systems plans. Opponents of HSA involvement in environmental health planning charge that these activities overextend agency resources, duplicate efforts of other government agencies and involve HSAs in "issues of public policy." Closer examination of these charges finds them lacking in validity. The planning activities of health systems agencies are cooperative in nature, drawing upon the planning efforts of other institutions and agencies. It is illogical to exclude environmental concerns from general health planning in light of the impact of the environment upon health. Charges that issues of public policy are inappropriate topics for health planning are seen as attempts to avoid scrutiny of inconsistant legislative policies. Cooperative planning between health systems agencies and environmental health agencies is considered both desirable and essential for the development of effective health planning.

Environmental Health↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Emerging public health issues in Alaska: occupational and environmental health.

The principal purpose of this article is to examine selected Alaskan occupational and environmental health problems and associated issues. Specifically, we focus on two traditional areas of interest in occupational and environmental health: 1) Job-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities, and 2) accidental spills and uncontrolled waste sites involving hazardous materials. In 1986 the Alaska Department of Labor reported 13,154 recordable occupational injuries and illnesses among workers in the private sector. The injury rate for private sector workers was 10.2 cases per 100, compared to a rate of 7.9 for the U.S. private sector as a whole. There are approximately 550 known hazardous waste sites in Alaska identified by military, other federal, or state sources. One study documents 1,330 hazardous materials incidents in Alaska during a one year period. Effective public health policy for these occupational and environmental health hazards requires the development of an adequate database and a specific plan of action for the future.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed2005

Methodological aspects of a GIS-based environmental health inspection program used in the Athens 2004 Olympic and Para Olympic Games.

BACKGROUND: The use of geographical information system (GIS) technologies in public health surveillance is gradually gaining momentum around the world and many applications have already been reported in the literature. In this study, GIS technology was used to help county departments of Public Health to implement environmental health surveillance for the Athens 2004 Olympic and Para Olympic Games. METHODS: In order to assess the workload in each Olympic county, 19 registry forms and 17 standardized inspection forms were developed to register and inspect environmental health items requiring inspection (Hotels, restaurants, swimming pools, water supply system etc), respectively. Furthermore, related databases were created using Epi Info 2002 and a geographical information system (GIS) were used to implement an integrated Environmental Health inspection program. The project was conducted in Athens by the Olympic Planning Unit (OPU) of the National School of Public Health, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity and the corresponding departments of Public Health in all municipalities that were scheduled to host events during the Athens 2004 Olympic and Para Olympic games. RESULTS: A total of 44,741 premises of environmental health interest were geocoded into GIS databases and several electronic maps were developed. Using such maps in association with specific criteria, we first identified the maximum workload required to execute environmental health inspections in all premises within the eleven Olympic County Departments of Public Health. Six different scenarios were created for each county, based on devised algorithms in order to design the most effective and realistic inspection program using the available inspectors from each municipality. Furthermore, GIS applications were used to organize the daily inspection program for the Olympic games, provide coloured displays of the inspection results and link those results with the public health surveillance of specific cases or outbreak investigation. CONCLUSION: Our computerised program exhibited significant efficiency in facilitating the prudent use of public health resources in implementing environmental health inspections in densely populated urban areas as well as in rural counties. Furthermore, the application of simple algorithms in integrating human and other resources provided tailored and cost-effective applications to different public health agencies.

Accidents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Using a site visit to a contaminated location as a focus for environmental health education for academic and public health nurses.

We describe a conference initiative that is distinguished by the use of a "community case study" to increase the knowledge and skills of nursing faculty and public health nurses in environmental health and to provide networking support to facilitate infusion of environmental health into nursing curricula and public health nursing practice. The Institute of Medicine's (1995) general environmental health competencies for nurses provided the conference framework. Woburn, Massachusetts, a Superfund site, served as the community case study to illustrate a complex environmental health problem. Over an extended period of time, Woburn was contaminated with multiple chemicals that eventually contaminated the drinking water supply; a cluster of childhood leukemia cases was linked subsequently to the Superfund site contaminants. A 6-hr interpreted walking and bus tour of the Superfund site enabled us to visit the premises of responsible parties, the vapor extraction fields, the capped Well H in the wooded wetlands, and to tour the affected neighborhood. This intensive, hands-on approach to learning environmental health content and skills that incorporated multiple learning strategies serves as a model for developing future conferences for public health nurses and nursing faculty.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2000

Flexible delivery of education in environmental health.

The promotion of environmental health is essential for the well-being of present and future communities. However, environment and health are still two areas that many organisations and governments find it difficult to fully integrate, and there is a need to focus more on the management of environmental health issues for public health practitioners. The continuous education and training of public health professionals, to incorporate environmental health into their management strategies, is the first step to achieve a stronger focus on the prevention of environmental health problems, rather than identification and evaluation of current problems. As most of the practitioners are in employment and may not be able to find the time or the money to study full time to improve their capabilities, the option to study externally and in their own time, in addition to their day time work, is required.

Australia↗
PubMed1998

Environmental health sciences education--a tool for achieving environmental equity and protecting children.

Children are highly susceptible to deleterious effects of environmental toxins. Those who live in underserved communities may be particularly at risk because environmental pollution has been found to be disproportionately distributed among communities. Mounting evidence suggests that asthma rates are rising and that this disease can be caused or aggravated by air pollution. Although ambient air quality has generally improved, these improvements have not reached minority communities in equal proportions. This and other data has fueled the concept of environmental justice or environmental equity, which has led to community activism and government actions. One possible example of environmental inequity and its consequences is the Hunt's Point community, in the South Bronx, New York. This community experiences a high pollution burden with the siting of facilities that emit hazardous wastes into the air. Our approach to this problem has been the formation of mechanisms for bidirectional communication between community residents, government entities, and academic institutions such as Mount Sinai Medical Center. As a result of this experience, we believe that the key to achieving environmental health, especially in communities of color where many children are at risk, is to empower residents to take charge of their environment by providing relevant educational opportunities. Strategies for environmental health education include multitiered training approaches that include community residents, parent education, direct children education, and community education through professional counselors and train-the-trainer approaches. We propose that academic researchers must use community residents not just as subjects of our studies, but to increase our mutual understanding of environmental health, resulting in active participation of community members in research design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination of results in order to make intervention strategies more effective.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Environmental health faculty in schools of public health.

This paper profiles the faculty in schools of public health, particularly in environmental health. There are approximately 1,650 faculty members in schools of public health; 300 of them are in environmental health. The future demand for personnel in environmental health appears to be for generalists, as well as specialists in toxicology, epidemiology, environmental chemistry and biology, industrial hygiene, vector control, and institutional environments. These demands will require new and updated programs and additional faculty. While PhD scientists and engineers (the pool of potential new faculty) are increasingly being drawn to industry rather than academia, new personnel for faculty positions are expected to be available in the market.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Lessons in environmental health in the twentieth century.

Environmental health has evolved rapidly in recent decades, drawing largely on new analytic technologies, advanced data acquisition and modeling, mechanistic studies in toxicology, and the conceptual framework of risk assessment. The latter combines toxicologic and epidemiologic data with improved techniques for quantifying exposure, producing estimates of risks from environmental hazards or conditions to selected target populations. The public and governments have become increasingly concerned with environmental health and quality. The major lessons have been (a) environmental-health scientists must participate in policy debates; (b) environmental health problems are exceedingly complex and require interdisciplinary research; and (c) environmental health is a global issue. The globalization of commerce, the untested impact of international trade agreements, increased migration, and especially increased population, have profound impact on the quality as well as availability of air, water, land, and food. Global atmospheric transport of pollutants and the effect on atmosphere and climate are two examples of globalization of environmental health.

Environmental Health↗