Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is Environmental Health?Areas of Environmental HealthGlobal Environmental HealthHow You Can Help Protect and Improve Environmental Health
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What Is Environmental Health?
Areas of Environmental Health
Global Environmental Health
How You Can Help Protect and Improve Environmental Health
Water quality, safe housing, healthy food access, andpollution-free transportation all contribute to human health, along with many other factors. Where people live and how they’re connecting to the world can affect their health. The environmental health field—with its professionals, policies, and programs—is focused on these factors.
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Environmental health is thepublic healthfield that monitors and addresses physical, chemical, and biological factors that impact your health though they’re not always within your direct control.
Simply put, environmental health is the area of public health that deals with all the different ways the world can impact physical and mental well-being. Examples of impacts include:
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Environmental health is one of the largest fields within public health because of the myriad ways external forces can impact how people eat, live, and grow. These forces can be about addressing the natural environment (as in the case for clean water or sanitation), but they can also be the consequence of human beings' actions—including societal norms.
There are a number of initiatives focused on environmental health in the United States. Among them is the Healthy People 2030 agenda, which highlights six key areas that encompass the various ways environmental health is crucial to the health of communities.
Air Quality
Air is non-negotiable for humans. It’s needed to survive and air quality can have a significant impact on health.
Poor air quality has been linked to a wide range of health issues, including SIDS,lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Air pollution is also linked to low birth weight.
One2019 study found that people exposed to high levels of air pollutants in the early and late states of pregnancy were more likely to have babies with lower birth weights, or with preterm births, than their non-exposed peers.
The Clean Air Act
Water and Sanitation
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 780 million people worldwide don’t have access to safe drinking water, and a jaw-dropping 1.7 billion (or roughly a fifth of Earth’s population) lack adequate sanitation services like clean bathrooms.
The simple act of filtering and chlorinating water systems in the United States has resulted in significant declines in once-common diseases liketyphoid. Historically, clean water is responsible for the bulk of the decline in childhood mortality in the country.
The environmental health impact of safe water can’t be overstated. An estimated 2,200 children die every day worldwide of diarrheal diseases linked to improper water and sanitation.The United Nations estimates a return of $4.30 in medical and social costs for every dollar spent on clean water.
Toxic Substances and Hazardous Wastes
Toxicology—that is, the area of science devoted to understanding how chemicals and substances can affect people and their surroundings—is an important field in environmental health. Many of the materials needed to advance industries and technology, like heavy metals or even some plastics, can also hurt the human body and even lead to serious medical conditions.
The Flint, Michigan, water crisis is an example oflead poisoningeffects in a community that can lead to long-term health complications, including brain damage in children. Economically disadvantaged kids are often most affected.
The Flint crisis, which exposed more than 100,000 people to unsafe lead levels in drinking water, was a prime example of how environmental health issues often hurt those whose health status is already most at risk.
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Homes and Communities
Home and neighborhoods are at the core of environmental health. When a neighborhood has a lot of violence, for example, families or older people might not go outside to exercise. When roads aren’t properly maintained, it can result in more car crashes. When sidewalks are in poor condition, people may avoid walking for fear of accidents.
An emerging field of environmental health is that of food access. In neighborhoods without full-service grocery stores, people rely on convenience stores, gas stations, and fast food restaurants. This limits fresh produce options—a vital part of a healthy diet.These food deserts contribute to health disparities for low-income and minority populations especially.
Environmental health professionals are urging communities to establish public gardens where residents can grow and harvest their own fresh produce, improve access to public transportation to full-service grocery stores and farmers markets, and change zoning laws to incentivize retailers to offer healthier food options.
Infrastructure and Surveillance
A primary piece of any public health strategy is information to identify risks and guide the resources and responses to prevent them. This includes investigating and responding to diseases—a field calledepidemiology—as well as screening for hazards and establishing surveillance programs.
An example of this in action is mosquito surveillance and abatement activities. These programs test mosquitoes for certain things, including the presence of dangerous infections likeZika virus, as well as monitor populations to ensure control measures are working.This information can help health officials know what to watch for in doctors' offices, direct local governments on where and how best to spray for mosquitoes, and alert the public if a mosquito-borne illness is spreading in the area.
In the coming decades, environmental health professionals are bracing for a warmer, wetter climate that will likely prompt or exacerbate threats to public health across the globe.
Even though health outcomes have improved significantly over the past century—in wealthy nations like the United States in particular—environmental hazards and infectious diseases know no geopolitical boundaries. People today are traveling farther and more often than ever before, and conflicts in areas like Syria, Afghanistan, and South Sudan cause millions to flee their homes.
These increases in cross-border and cross-continental movements have the potential to threaten disease prevention efforts and overextend existing infrastructure.That’s why it’s crucial that countries look beyond their borders to improve the health of the global population overall.
Keep in mind that visibility helps to drive environmental health policy. Talk with your government and local businesses about investing in environmental health to ensure every neighbor has the chance to live, work, and play in a healthy and safe community.
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Summary
Environmental health professionals focus on factors like industrial air pollution, water quality, healthy food access, and safe housing that impact public health. In many cases, these factors (unlike the personal risk of genetics, for example) are preventable or can be changed to improve public health and overallhealth equity.
But there’s much you can do personally to make lifestyle changes, like limiting plastic waste and reducing energy use, that can limit environmental health risk both for you and the planet.
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25 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Neta G, Martin L, Collman G.Advancing environmental health sciences through implementation science.Environ Health. 2022 Dec 23;21(1):136. doi:10.1186/s12940-022-00933-0.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Sources of lead exposure.Bevel MS, Tsai MH, Parham A, Andrzejak SE, Jones S, Moore JX.Association of Food Deserts and Food Swamps With Obesity-Related Cancer Mortality in the US.JAMA Oncol. 2023 Jul 1;9(7):909-916. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.0634.Hiatt RA, Beyeler N.Cancer and climate change.Lancet Oncol. 2020 Nov;21(11):e519-e527. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30448-4.American Academy of Pediatrics.New AAP policy, technical report offer advice on reducing harms from excessive noise exposures.Jimenez MP, Elliott EG, DeVille NV, Laden F, Hart JE, Weuve J,et al.Residential green space and cognitive function in a large cohort of middle-aged women.JAMA Netw Open.2022;5(4):e229306. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.9306Sampath V, Shalakhti O, Veidis E, Efobi JAI, Shamji MH, Agache I,et al.Acute and chronic impacts of heat stress on planetary health.Allergy. 2023 Aug;78(8):2109-2120. doi:10.1111/all.15702.Department of Health and Social Services.Healthy People 2030.Lee JT.Review of epidemiological studies on air pollution and health effects in children.Clin Exp Pediatr.2021 Jan;64(1):3-11. doi:10.3345/cep.2019.00843Liu Y, Xu J, Chen D, Sun P, Ma X.The association between air pollution and preterm birth and low birth weight in Guangdong, China.BMC Public Health. 2019;19(1):3. doi:10.1186/s12889-018-6307-7Environmental Protection Agency.Progress Cleaning the Air and Improving People’s Health.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Assessing access to water and sanitation.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The water people drink.Alsan M, Goldin C.Watersheds in child mortality: the role of effective water and sewerage infrastructure, 1880–1920.Journal of Political Economy. 2019;127(2):586-638. doi:10.1086/700766Center for Disease Philanthropy.Water, sanitation and hygiene.United Nations.Every dollar invested in water, sanitation brings four-fold return in costs.World Health Organization.Lead poisoning.Brown J, Acey CS, Anthonj C, Barrington DJ, Beal CD, Capone D,et al.The effects of racism, social exclusion, and discrimination on achieving universal safe water and sanitation in high-income countries.Lancet Glob Health. 2023 Apr;11(4):e606-e614. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00006-2.Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.Access to affordable, nutritious food Is limited in “Food Deserts”.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Zika virus.World Mosquito Program.Explainer: How climate change is amplifying mosquito-borne diseases.U.S. National Library of Medicine.The impact of globalization on infectious disease emergence and control: Exploring the consequences and opportunities: Workshop summary.Environmental Protection Agency.Radon.Kiefner-Burmeister A, Heilman CC.A Century of Influences on Parental Feeding in America.Curr Nutr Rep. 2023 Dec;12(4):594-602. doi: 10.1007/s13668-023-00499-4.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.What Is Health Equity?Additional ReadingCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.Environmental Health Services.Healthy People.gov.Environmental Health. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.Environmental Health Topics.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Neta G, Martin L, Collman G.Advancing environmental health sciences through implementation science.Environ Health. 2022 Dec 23;21(1):136. doi:10.1186/s12940-022-00933-0.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Sources of lead exposure.Bevel MS, Tsai MH, Parham A, Andrzejak SE, Jones S, Moore JX.Association of Food Deserts and Food Swamps With Obesity-Related Cancer Mortality in the US.JAMA Oncol. 2023 Jul 1;9(7):909-916. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.0634.Hiatt RA, Beyeler N.Cancer and climate change.Lancet Oncol. 2020 Nov;21(11):e519-e527. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30448-4.American Academy of Pediatrics.New AAP policy, technical report offer advice on reducing harms from excessive noise exposures.Jimenez MP, Elliott EG, DeVille NV, Laden F, Hart JE, Weuve J,et al.Residential green space and cognitive function in a large cohort of middle-aged women.JAMA Netw Open.2022;5(4):e229306. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.9306Sampath V, Shalakhti O, Veidis E, Efobi JAI, Shamji MH, Agache I,et al.Acute and chronic impacts of heat stress on planetary health.Allergy. 2023 Aug;78(8):2109-2120. doi:10.1111/all.15702.Department of Health and Social Services.Healthy People 2030.Lee JT.Review of epidemiological studies on air pollution and health effects in children.Clin Exp Pediatr.2021 Jan;64(1):3-11. doi:10.3345/cep.2019.00843Liu Y, Xu J, Chen D, Sun P, Ma X.The association between air pollution and preterm birth and low birth weight in Guangdong, China.BMC Public Health. 2019;19(1):3. doi:10.1186/s12889-018-6307-7Environmental Protection Agency.Progress Cleaning the Air and Improving People’s Health.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Assessing access to water and sanitation.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The water people drink.Alsan M, Goldin C.Watersheds in child mortality: the role of effective water and sewerage infrastructure, 1880–1920.Journal of Political Economy. 2019;127(2):586-638. doi:10.1086/700766Center for Disease Philanthropy.Water, sanitation and hygiene.United Nations.Every dollar invested in water, sanitation brings four-fold return in costs.World Health Organization.Lead poisoning.Brown J, Acey CS, Anthonj C, Barrington DJ, Beal CD, Capone D,et al.The effects of racism, social exclusion, and discrimination on achieving universal safe water and sanitation in high-income countries.Lancet Glob Health. 2023 Apr;11(4):e606-e614. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00006-2.Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.Access to affordable, nutritious food Is limited in “Food Deserts”.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Zika virus.World Mosquito Program.Explainer: How climate change is amplifying mosquito-borne diseases.U.S. National Library of Medicine.The impact of globalization on infectious disease emergence and control: Exploring the consequences and opportunities: Workshop summary.Environmental Protection Agency.Radon.Kiefner-Burmeister A, Heilman CC.A Century of Influences on Parental Feeding in America.Curr Nutr Rep. 2023 Dec;12(4):594-602. doi: 10.1007/s13668-023-00499-4.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.What Is Health Equity?
Neta G, Martin L, Collman G.Advancing environmental health sciences through implementation science.Environ Health. 2022 Dec 23;21(1):136. doi:10.1186/s12940-022-00933-0.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Sources of lead exposure.
Bevel MS, Tsai MH, Parham A, Andrzejak SE, Jones S, Moore JX.Association of Food Deserts and Food Swamps With Obesity-Related Cancer Mortality in the US.JAMA Oncol. 2023 Jul 1;9(7):909-916. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.0634.
Hiatt RA, Beyeler N.Cancer and climate change.Lancet Oncol. 2020 Nov;21(11):e519-e527. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30448-4.
Jimenez MP, Elliott EG, DeVille NV, Laden F, Hart JE, Weuve J,et al.Residential green space and cognitive function in a large cohort of middle-aged women.JAMA Netw Open.2022;5(4):e229306. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.9306
Sampath V, Shalakhti O, Veidis E, Efobi JAI, Shamji MH, Agache I,et al.Acute and chronic impacts of heat stress on planetary health.Allergy. 2023 Aug;78(8):2109-2120. doi:10.1111/all.15702.
Department of Health and Social Services.Healthy People 2030.
Lee JT.Review of epidemiological studies on air pollution and health effects in children.Clin Exp Pediatr.2021 Jan;64(1):3-11. doi:10.3345/cep.2019.00843
Liu Y, Xu J, Chen D, Sun P, Ma X.The association between air pollution and preterm birth and low birth weight in Guangdong, China.BMC Public Health. 2019;19(1):3. doi:10.1186/s12889-018-6307-7
Environmental Protection Agency.Progress Cleaning the Air and Improving People’s Health.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Assessing access to water and sanitation.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The water people drink.
Alsan M, Goldin C.Watersheds in child mortality: the role of effective water and sewerage infrastructure, 1880–1920.Journal of Political Economy. 2019;127(2):586-638. doi:10.1086/700766
Center for Disease Philanthropy.Water, sanitation and hygiene.
World Health Organization.Lead poisoning.
Brown J, Acey CS, Anthonj C, Barrington DJ, Beal CD, Capone D,et al.The effects of racism, social exclusion, and discrimination on achieving universal safe water and sanitation in high-income countries.Lancet Glob Health. 2023 Apr;11(4):e606-e614. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00006-2.
Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.Access to affordable, nutritious food Is limited in “Food Deserts”.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Zika virus.
World Mosquito Program.Explainer: How climate change is amplifying mosquito-borne diseases.
U.S. National Library of Medicine.The impact of globalization on infectious disease emergence and control: Exploring the consequences and opportunities: Workshop summary.
Environmental Protection Agency.Radon.
Kiefner-Burmeister A, Heilman CC.A Century of Influences on Parental Feeding in America.Curr Nutr Rep. 2023 Dec;12(4):594-602. doi: 10.1007/s13668-023-00499-4.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.What Is Health Equity?
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Environmental Health Services.Healthy People.gov.Environmental Health. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.Environmental Health Topics.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Environmental Health Services.
Healthy People.gov.Environmental Health. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.Environmental Health Topics.
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