In the study, health risk assessment on heavy metals ingestion was presented through the groundwater drinking pathway for residents in an oil and gas producing area of Rivers State, Nigeria. The level of the ground water pollution was examined, the quality of the borehole and the well water was assessed and the quality of the ground water pathway for the resident in the oil and gas producing area was determined and compared with the national and international standards for the drinking water. This study adopted both the field and laboratory experimental analysis of physical and chemical parameters. Water samples were analyzed for Physico-chemical parameters following acceptable methods to determine the compliance, and the results were analyzed according to drinking water guidelines. Interestingly, the results show that the ground water contained high amounts of turbidity (21.5 NTU, 23.00 NTU and 19.0 NTU in the borehole water and well water), iron (5.3 mg/L in the ground water and 6.98 mg/L in the borehole water) and pHs of all water samples were acidic in the study area. These results show that ground waters including the borehole and the well waters of the study area had acquired reasonable levels of pollution. Whereas, other values were found to be lower or above and corHow to cite this paper: Olalekan, R.M.,

Climate change is a “threat multiplier and a prime cause of universal threat to health in the 21st century, including 4th industrial revolution. The health effects of climate change will increase dramatically over the next few years and pose a risk to human life and the well-being of billions of people. As we all know, the milieu is fundamental to our sustained earth survival and environmental changes (natural and artificial) affect it either to the benefit or detriment of humans. Climate change is one of such changes in the physical environment which has grave consequences for the existence of mankind. Climate change is interestingly, no longer a speculative subject. There is a good international scientific consensus existing to show that this phenomenon is real and if recent global warming movements continue, temperature rise, ocean levels and more frequently weather conditions that is extreme (storms, heat-waves, droughts, floods, cyclones, etc.) may perhaps cause severe food shortages, loss of shelter, water, livelihoods, extinction of flora and fauna species. In the recent past, the earth has witnessed devastating weather-related events in different portions of the globe including hurricanes (e.g., Katrina and Rita in USA), tsunamis, typhoons, flooding especially in the Asian Continent, wild fires especially in Australia, USA, etc. Currently, the on-going flood incident in Pakistan that has so far claimed about 1,600 lives and rendered another four million people homeless is a sad reminder of the ugly and devastating consequences of global warming on the environment. There is no gainsaying the fact that humankind is paying dearly for the massive alterations in the environment that have induced changes in climate. This is because of frequent incidence of changes in climate related disasters in the world today. There is hardly any month that passes without an incident occurring in one part of the globe or another since the advent of the 21st century. Changes in climate has significant and potentially devastating health consequences, whether through direct actions (e.g., deaths resulting from heat wave and weather disasters) or disruption of complex biological methods (e.g., changes in infectious diseases patterns, supplies in fresh water and production of food).The report of the fourth assessment of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have globally submitted that “it is estimated that the health of millions of people is affected, for instance, malnutrition increases; deaths increase, diseases and injury; burden of increase diarrheal diseases; frequency of increased cardio-respiratory diseases caused by high levels of ground-level ozone in cities due to climate change; besides altered spatial distribution of some communicable diseases”. The association amongst changes in climate, its drivers, systemic effects, health and socioeconomic growth, mitigation and adaptation has been specified.

With the close of 2020 unprecedented year, a year like no other, Nigerians is still reeling from the impacts of an emerging, rapidly and evolving COVID-19 pandemic, while the spring continue to unfolded. COVID-19 was considered a “deaths of despair” with an opioid crisis and realizing that humanity is in for a long haul with COVID-19, itself may be a game changer. If we expected COVID-19 to be short lived, we have been remarkably, if not catastrophically, disappointed. As many people were already feeling significantly stressed, and where depression was increasing risks of overdoses and suicide. From time immemorial, humankind have suffered the psychological effects of various catastrophes, such as wars, floods, famines, wildfires, earthquakes, windstorms and last but certainly not least, the possibility of outbreaks of potentially deadly infectious diseases. Hence, these zoonosis diseases, result from pathogens being transmitted from animals to humans. To protect ourselves from zoonoses, there is need for new measures and precautions, for instance ending and preventing deforestation as well as protecting conservation areas and endangered species against such danger. Of course, we are certainly no exception today as people try to figure out how to cope and help others cope with the grief, stress, and anxiety caused by the greatest health challenge of our time: the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. With more than 1,129 Nigerian having lost their lives as of October 24, 2020 and more than 61,882 thousand infected since COVID-19 first gripped our nation, although reports suggest that the incidence of COVID-19 has begun to drop, the pandemic has taken a profound psychological and emotional toll on us all. However, social and behavioral scientists have identified some strategies to help us face our fears, as well as even rise to the challenge of supporting others during this fraught time. While awaiting the unprecedented investment in the development of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and the simultaneous scale up of vaccine manufacturing which has been taking place, including unprecedented collaboration and resources to develop safe and effective vaccines for COVID-19 that can be manufactured and delivered in the scale of billions of doses to people around the globe. Continuing in this unprecedented commitment towards collaboration as well as transparency is essential towards ensuring that effective and reliable access to information will continue to inform policy decisions at all levels to support the development of national roadmaps to accelerate as well as sustain progress towards public health interventions and building trust in communities that will benefit from a safe and effective vaccine as well as making sure we get it to them as quick as possible.

Waterborne diseases have negative implications on the health and socioeconomic activities of man. This paper analyzed the prevalence pattern of diarrhea and typhoid (DT) in Yenagoa. The study used data derived from responses to administered questionnaire on household’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and retrospective hospital data on recorded cases of DT in Yenagoa. Obtained data were analyzed with tables, percentages, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and T-test. The analyses showed that household’s WASH provisions in Yenagoa were unsatisfactory and may have contributed to the incidence of both diseases. Those mostly impacted by both diseases were five years and below; while the dry season recorded higher cases, when safe water supply was more challenging. The ANOVA test showed that the monthly incidence of both DT do not significantly vary, as the calculated F-value for diarrhea was 6.865, p-value, .135; while that for typhoid was, .590, p-value, .842 at 0.05 alpha levels. However, the age and seasonal incidence of both DT varied significantly in Yenagoa. The ANOVA test for age distribution of diarrhea was F= 5.483 and p-value, .024; while that of typhoid was F= 6.038 and p-value was .019 at 0.05 alpha levels. Similarly, the t-test for seasonal incidence of diarrhea was t =4.836 and p-value, .005; while that of typhoid was t = 4.468 and p-value, .007 at 0.05 alpha levels. Therefore, households should have unrestricted access to adequate WASH services, which act as primary barriers to the spread of DT diseases.