The impact of the environment on health by country: a meta-synthesis

Prüss‐Üstün, Annette; Bonjour, Sophie; Corvalán, Carlos

doi:10.1186/1476-069x-7-7

Cited by 142 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…One widely publicized assessment of the global burden of disease associated with changes in the environment concluded that roughly one quarter of the global burden of disease can be attributed to environmental changes (87). This effort and many associated efforts to quantify disease burdens associated with environmental risk factors have, however, had a very different focus than that of this paper.…”

Section: How Big a Public Health Problem Is The Degradation Of Naturamentioning

confidence: 69%

“…For the reasons outlined above, it is not yet possible to quantify the burden of disease associated with the disruption of these natural systems to the same degree that has been accomplished with other types of environmental health risks. We suspect, however, that the health burden associated with ecosystem alterations will be on a par with those other types of environmental health risks which were found to account for roughly one quarter of the global burden of disease (87).…”

Section: How Big a Public Health Problem Is The Degradation Of Naturamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such analyses are enormously valuable in helping public health practitioners determine the relative gains that can be achieved in the overall health of a population by modifying these aspects of the environment. However, they explicitly excluded "natural environments or ecosystems that cannot reasonably be modified" as beyond their scope and do not, therefore, provide us guidance on the relative importance of ecosystem change to human health (87).…”

Section: How Big a Public Health Problem Is The Degradation Of Naturamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Human health impacts of ecosystem alteration

Myers

Gaffikin²,

Golden

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

360

261

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Human activity is rapidly transforming most of Earth's natural systems. How this transformation is impacting human health, whose health is at greatest risk, and the magnitude of the associated disease burden are relatively new subjects within the field of environmental health. We discuss what is known about the human health implications of changes in the structure and function of natural systems and propose that these changes are affecting human health in a variety of important ways. We identify several gaps and limitations in the research that has been done to date and propose a more systematic and comprehensive approach to applied research in this field. Such efforts could lead to a more robust understanding of the human health impacts of accelerating environmental change and inform decision making in the land-use planning, environmental conservation, and public health policy realms.At least since Hippocrates wrote On Airs, Waters, and Places, the natural environment has been viewed as an important determinant of human health. However, over the last century, the field of environmental health has focused increasingly on quantifying exposure-response relationships for toxins encountered in the human-dominated environment: from an initial focus on workplace exposures, to a population-level focus on radiation, heavy metals, air and water pollution, and more recently, to exposure to endocrinedisrupting chemicals. Over this period, relatively little attention has been paid to how changes in the structure and function of Earth's natural systems might affect human health. Growing evidence that changes in these natural systems can affect human health in a variety of important ways and the increasing pace and extent of these changes has prompted this Perspective. In it, we review current understanding of this field, identify some of its gaps and limitations, and suggest an approach to expanding our understanding.Human activity is transforming nearly all of Earth's natural systems. With the human population now exceeding 7 billion people and rapid growth in per capita consumption of goods and services, humanity's growing ecological footprint is altering the planet's land cover, rivers and oceans, climate system, biogeochemical cycles, and the

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Section: How Big a Public Health Problem Is The Degradation Of Naturamentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: How Big a Public Health Problem Is The Degradation Of Naturamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: How Big a Public Health Problem Is The Degradation Of Naturamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Human health impacts of ecosystem alteration

Myers

Gaffikin²,

Golden

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

360

261

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Consider the biggest environmental contributors to the GBD: diarrheal diseases, respiratory infections, and malaria, which have all featured prominently in the global appraisal because of their large environmental component and disproportionate impact on children (9,10). The thin evidence base focuses on specific drivers of specific diseases (6), typically climate (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25), biodemography and migration (13,(26)(27)(28)(29)(30), or land-use change (20,(31)(32)(33).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent approximations attribute as much as 24% of the global burden of disease (GBD) to poor environmental quality, including land-use patterns (9,10). Ecosystem degradation and infectious diseases are central elements of a vicious cycle of rural poverty traps in the developing topics (11)(12)(13).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Public health impacts of ecosystem change in the Brazilian Amazon

Bauch¹,

Birkenbach

Pattanayak

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The claim that nature delivers health benefits rests on a thin empirical evidence base. Even less evidence exists on how specific conservation policies affect multiple health outcomes. We address these gaps in knowledge by combining municipal-level panel data on diseases, public health services, climatic factors, demographics, conservation policies, and other drivers of land-use change in the Brazilian Amazon. To fully exploit this dataset, we estimate random-effects and quantile regression models of disease incidence. We find that malaria, acute respiratory infection (ARI), and diarrhea incidence are significantly and negatively correlated with the area under strict environmental protection. Results vary by disease for other types of protected areas (PAs), roads, and mining. The relationships between diseases and land-use change drivers also vary by quantile of the disease distribution. Conservation scenarios based on estimated regression results suggest that malaria, ARI, and diarrhea incidence would be reduced by expanding strict PAs, and malaria could be further reduced by restricting roads and mining. Although these relationships are complex, we conclude that interventions to preserve natural capital can deliver cobenefits by also increasing human (health) capital.infectious diseases | roads | mining | protected areas | Amazon forest

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How Much Human Disease Is Caused by Exposure to Organic Chemicals?

Carpenter¹

2013

Effects of Persistent and Bioactive Organic Pollutants on Human Health

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The impact of the environment on health by country: a meta-synthesis

Abstract: Background: Health gains that environmental interventions could achieve are main questions when choosing environmental health action to prevent disease. The World Health Organization has recently released profiles of environmental burden of disease for 192 countries.

Cited by 142 publications

References 8 publications

Human health impacts of ecosystem alteration

Human health impacts of ecosystem alteration

Public health impacts of ecosystem change in the Brazilian Amazon

How Much Human Disease Is Caused by Exposure to Organic Chemicals?

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