Learning Outcomes - A. Understand the concept of environmental factors influencing health, and the relevance to public health from the global to the local levels.
B. Describe key agencies, institutional structures, political processes, influences on and challenges for environmental health.
D. Understand the way in which globalisation and the social, economic and political determinants of health influence disease, including identification of vulnerable groups.
E. Understand the concept of sustainable development.
F. Identify and critique ethical elements relevant to environmental health protections, policies, and industry practices, from global to local scale.
G. Critically analyse the relationships between environmental risk factors and social, economic and political determinants of illness and injury from global to local scale.
Instructions:
Choose a specific geographic region and one of the following environmental health issues:
- Water (safe drinking water or ambient/environmental water)
- Sanitation (wastewater control)
- Air quality (indoor or outdoor)
- Solid waste management
- Hazardous/toxic substances
- Noise
- Disasters
- Food safety
- Traffic accidents
- Vector-borne disease
- Climate and geography
- Housing and the built environment
Please address the following:
Part 1:
- Using the WHO (1999) DPSEEA framework
describe the driving forces, pressures, state changes, exposures and effects relevant to your chosen region and environmental health issue.
- Are there any social, political or economic influences on the issue that aren't captured by the DPSEEA framework?
Part 2
- How is the environmental health issue currently being managed? What is the role of existing health agencies and other agencies, key stakeholders including community groups, critical infrastructure and legislative and regulatory measures at the federal and state level?
- What suggestions do you propose to address gaps in current policy, regulation and management for this environmental health issue?