Nigeria's free digital learning hub. Videos, lecture notes, practice questions and leaderboards aligned with CCMAS, NBTE, NCCE, WAEC, NECO, IJMB and JAMB curricula.
Loading
Nigeria's free digital learning hub. Videos, lecture notes, practice questions and leaderboards aligned with CCMAS, NBTE, NCCE, WAEC, NECO, IJMB and JAMB curricula.
Environmental Health Science · 200 Level
This is the complete lecture note for COM304 Introduction to Environmental Health, prepared for Environmental Health Science students at 200 Level. You can read it online below, open it in the full viewer, or download the PDF for offline study. It pairs with the course's video lectures, so you can read and watch together.
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS Course code: COM 304 Course title: Introduction to Environmental Health Course credit load: 2 Units Series 1: Human Environment in Totality • Part 1.1: Definition and Scope of Environmental Health o Sub Part 1.1.1: Definition of environment and environmental health o Sub Part 1.1.2: Scope and objectives of environmental health o Sub Part 1.1.3: Historical development of environmental health • Part 1.2: The Human Environment in Its Totality o Sub Part 1.2.1: Physical, biological, and social dimensions of the human environment o Sub Part 1.2.2: Human-environment interaction o Sub Part 1.2.3: Concept of ecosystem and ecological balance • Part 1.3: Environmental Health Determinants o Sub Part 1.3.1: Social and economic determinants of environmental health o Sub Part 1.3.2: Behavioural and cultural determinants o Sub Part 1.3.3: Environmental health indicators • Part 1.4: Environmental Health in Nigeria o Sub Part 1.4.1: Overview of Nigeria environmental health challenges o Sub Part 1.4.2: Regulatory and institutional framework o Sub Part 1.4.3: Role of the environmental health officer Introduction
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS Human beings do not exist in isolation. Every aspect of the environment in which people live, work, and play, from the air they breathe and the water they drink to the social conditions of their neighbourhood and the cultural norms of their community, shapes their health. Environmental health is the discipline that examines and acts upon this relationship. It is one of the oldest branches of public health and one of the most urgently relevant, as rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, and climate change transform the environments in which billions of people live. The aim of this Series is to introduce the concept of the human environment in its totality, to define environmental health and its scope, to examine the determinants of environmental health, and to situate these concepts within the specific context of Nigeria. We shall commence by defining the environment and environmental health and tracing its historical development. Next, we will examine the human environment in its physical, biological, and social dimensions. Moving on, we will explore the social, economic, behavioural, and cultural determinants of environmental health. Finally, we will close by examining Nigeria environmental health challenges, regulatory framework, and the role of the environmental health officer. Series Learning Outcomes Upon completing this Series, you should be able to: • SLO 1.1 define environment and environmental health and describe the scope and objectives of the discipline, • SLO 1.2 trace the historical development of environmental health from ancient times to the present, • SLO 1.3 describe the physical, biological, and social dimensions of the human environment and explain the concept of ecosystem and ecological balance, • SLO 1.4 explain the social, economic, behavioural, and cultural determinants of environmental health, • SLO 1.5 describe the major environmental health challenges facing Nigeria, and
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS • SLO 1.6 describe the regulatory framework for environmental health in Nigeria and explain the role of the environmental health officer. 1.1 Definition and Scope of Environmental Health 1.1.1 Definition of environment and environmental health The environment refers to all external conditions, forces, and substances that affect an organism. It encompasses everything surrounding human beings: the air, water, soil, built structures, other organisms, and the social and cultural contexts in which people live. The World Health Organization defines environmental health as comprising those aspects of human health, including quality of life, that are determined by physical, chemical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors in the environment. It also refers to the theory and practice of assessing, correcting, controlling, and preventing those factors in the environment that can potentially affect adversely the health of present and future generations. Environmental health is both a science and a practice. As a science, it investigates the pathways by which environmental factors cause disease, injury, or diminished wellbeing. As a practice, it develops and implements interventions to reduce environmental health risks, from designing safe water supply systems to enforcing food safety regulations and controlling disease vectors. The discipline intersects with medicine, engineering, ecology, law, economics, and sociology, making it inherently interdisciplinary. Fill in the blank: The World Health Organization defines __________ health as comprising those aspects of human health determined by physical, chemical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors in the environment.
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS 1.1.2 Scope and objectives of environmental health The scope of environmental health is broad. It covers water quality and supply, food safety, air quality, waste management (solid, liquid, and hazardous waste), housing and built environment, vector and pest control, occupational health and safety, radiation protection, noise pollution, and climate change and health. These areas address the full range of environmental exposures that affect human health across the life course, from prenatal development through childhood, adulthood, and old age. The primary objectives of environmental health are: to identify environmental factors that adversely affect health; to assess the magnitude, nature, and distribution of those effects; to develop, implement, and evaluate interventions to reduce or eliminate those effects; and to promote environments that support health and wellbeing. In Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Environment and the Federal Ministry of Health share responsibility for environmental health, with implementation carried out by state and local government authorities and by trained environmental health officers. Fill in the blank: The scope of environmental health covers water quality, food safety, air quality, waste management, housing, vector control, occupational health, radiation protection, noise pollution, and __________ change and health. 1.1.3 Historical development of environmental health Environmental health has deep historical roots. Ancient civilisations in Egypt, Rome, and the Indus Valley built sewage systems and enacted regulations on waste disposal. In ancient Rome, the Cloaca Maxima was a sewer system designed to drain marshes and carry waste away from the city. The Mosaic laws of ancient Israel contained detailed provisions on food safety, hygiene, and waste disposal. Islamic medical tradition promoted cleanliness as a religious and health obligation. These early practices demonstrate that the connection between environment and health has been recognised across cultures and millennia. The modern discipline of environmental health emerged from the sanitary reform movement of nineteenth-century Britain, driven by the work of Edwin Chadwick, John Snow, and William
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS Farr, who demonstrated the link between poor sanitary conditions and epidemic disease. The Public Health Act of 1848 established the first national framework for sanitary regulation. In the twentieth century, environmental health expanded beyond sanitation to address industrial pollution, chemical hazards, radiation, and the global threats of climate change. In Nigeria, environmental health was formalised through legislation including the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) Act of 2007. Fill in the blank: The modern discipline of environmental health emerged from the __________ reform movement of nineteenth-century Britain, driven by the work of Edwin Chadwick and John Snow, who linked poor sanitary conditions to epidemic disease. Figure 1.1: Historical development of environmental health Pilot questions 1.1 1. Define environment and environmental health. 2. Name four areas within the scope of environmental health.
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS 3. Who drove the sanitary reform movement in nineteenth-century Britain? 4. What is the NESREA Act? 5. State two objectives of environmental health. 1.2 The Human Environment in Its Totality 1.2.1 Physical, biological, and social dimensions of the human environment The human environment can be understood through three interconnected dimensions. The physical environment includes the non-living components: air, water, soil, climate, topography, and the built environment (buildings, roads, infrastructure). The quality of these physical components directly determines exposure to pollutants, pathogens, and physical hazards. The biological environment includes all living organisms that share the human environment: bacteria, viruses, parasites, insects, animals, and plants. These biological agents are the direct causes of infectious diseases and the vectors or reservoirs through which pathogens are transmitted. The social environment encompasses the human-constructed conditions of existence: economic systems, social structures, cultural norms, political arrangements, and built institutions. Social determinants such as poverty, discrimination, inadequate education, and lack of political power shape access to healthy environments and the capacity to protect oneself from environmental hazards. The totality of the human environment is the integration of all three dimensions: a community may have clean water (physical) but suffer from malaria (biological) in conditions of poverty that prevent bed net use (social). Addressing environmental health effectively requires engaging all three dimensions simultaneously. Fill in the blank: The three dimensions of the human environment are the __________ environment (air, water, soil, built structures), the biological environment (living organisms), and the social environment (economic systems, cultural norms, political arrangements).
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS 1.2.2 Human-environment interaction Humans are not passive recipients of environmental conditions; they continuously modify their environment through agriculture,
This is the opening of the note. Read the full note or download the PDF to continue.
