Abstract
In this paper, it was revealed that the environmental issues have a significant impact on health. It is apparent that both positive and negative factors take place. However, the adverse aspects such as air pollution, poor quality of water and, natural hazards were emphasized. The topic was carefully discussed with the help of synopsis. Furthermore, the negative aspects were evaluated with the assistance of the literature review. The study revealed that all of the factors have a vehement impact on health and environmental conditions. Moreover, it became apparent that human was a primary cause of all the problems. In this case, my role to overcome the environmental barriers was evaluated. Potential solutions for improvement such as encouraging the usage bicycles and vaccination on the regular basis were discussed. Lastly, the conclusions were drawn to underline the importance of paying substantial attention to the environmental surroundings, as they can negatively affect a health state of an individual.
It is apparent that health and environment have a vehement connection. Even though the impact of the environmental factors is often underestimated, it has to be taken into account as factors such as natural hazards, low quality of water and air, emissions, and favourable conditions for the development of the dangerous bacteria and viruses have an intensive adverse effect on health of an individual, and I can contribute to finding the solution to elimination of these issues. Nonetheless, positive aspects are also present in the environment. However, a vehement attention has to be paid to the dangerous factors, as they are hazardous to health and might question future of a human kind. A primary goal of this essay is to determine and describe the environmental influences, which have a substantial impact on health. Moreover, my potential contribution to eliminating the existence of these factors is discovered. As a nurse, I can try to change the world to a better place. Finally, the conclusions are drawn to summarize all the acquired data.
Synopsis
Health is an essential element of our lives, as it provides an individual with energy and physical activities for proper functioning on the regular basis. Nonetheless, various changes in the environmental surroundings can modify the condition of health of an individual. However, it is apparent that some actions could be done to improve a current state of the problem.
There are several reasons for studying this topic. Firstly, it is clear that this question has been continuously rising for an extended period. It seems that this issue is under a vehement debate, as the human influence and always change the environment. Secondly, it is necessary to understand a current situation regarding the unfavourable conditions for the health development. Lastly, another reason is discovering necessity for improvement as an essentiality.
Various factors, which have a substantial impact on health, are evaluated and discussed in this paper with the help of the literature reviews. It is apparent such aspects as natural hazards, increased emission levels, poor quality of water, and favourable conditions for the bacteria development are considered as adverse. In this paper, only negative factors assessed since they dominate and strongly affect the health of the humans.
Possibilities of personal influence on changing a current situation were also discovered in the article. It is apparent that a nurse can affect the flow of events and improve the condition of the environment by motivating other people to become environmentally friendly. It is clear that the ways of improvement are discussed since they advance the existing conditions and make them favourable for the proper functioning of a human being.
Lastly, the conclusions are drawn, as it is essential to acquire a sufficient summary of the provided information. It is apparent that negative aspects have to be eliminated to improve the health state of the world population. In the end, it is clear that each individual has to contribute to the enhancement of the living conditions and aim towards living in the health environment.
Environmental Factors that Impact Health
It could be said that there are many environmental factors, which have an impact on the health of an individual. Some of them are positive and favourable for sufficient development of a human kind and other creatures. Nonetheless, the primary goal of this paper is to focus on adverse environmental factors, which can be a reason for potential danger for the individuals.
It is clear that natural hazards have an intense impact on the social, economic, and political condition of the country. For example, Bangladesh is one of the countries, which is under a high influence of hazardous changes in the environment (Cash et al., 2013). It is apparent that the mortality rate in the country remains high due to the negative environmental issues, as the country is not able to adapt rapidly to the constant environmental changes.
Another environmental problem, which can be dangerous for health is low quality of water and air. It is clear that drinking polluted and non-filtered water might be dangerous, as it is a transmitter of various bacteria. This problem often occurs in the undeveloped countries, such as Ghana (Machdar, Steen, Raschid-Sally, & Lens, 2013). It is apparent that the situation is not the worst in Ghana compared to the other countries with the low income. However, this problem still takes place and has to be solved to improve the health of the population.
Another problem, which occurs, is the increased levels of emissions, which pollute air. It is apparent that this problem has a substantial adverse impact on the respiratory system, as the polluted air contains a lot of hazardous and poisonous components. It is apparent that the following problems take place mostly in crowded and industrial areas. In these segments, it remains dangerous, as the concentration of the exhausted gases is high. For instance, in China, a significant percentage of deaths is registered from the air poisoning (Xu, Chen, & Ye, 2013).
It is apparent that favourable conditions for the development of the dangerous bacteria and viruses are created with the help of the factors mentioned above. The bacteria have a tendency to adapt to the antibiotics and mutate regularly. Staying resistant to the medicine is the most dangerous aspect regarding the bacteria development since it implies the existence of the incurable illnesses (Freire-Moran et al., 2011). It is clear that the medicine has to be developed continuously. Moreover, the population has to be regularly vaccinated to avoid the spread of the illnesses, which can be prevented.
In conclusion, it could be said that all of these factors have a negative influence on health. A majority of the aspects mentioned above can be eliminated, as the most of them occur due to the insufficient functioning of the processes, which are maintained and monitored by humans. It is clear that the solutions have to be found to improve the health state of the population on the planet.
My Role in Improving/Eliminating Environmental Barriers to Health
It is apparent that each individual can contribute to the reduction of adverse factors in the health care industry. However, medical personnel has more influence on the development of the positive surroundings for the patients. Nonetheless, it might be hard to change and reduce the number of environmental barriers, as the actions have to be unified with the other members of the society to achieve higher results. However, this chapter provides information on how I can improve the environmental conditions.
One of the ways to overcome the health barriers is to encourage people to be vaccinated on the regular basis. In this case, the patients would not be able to spread the curable diseases and illnesses. Following the plan of Healthy People 2020 will help improve the number of vaccinated individuals and improve the health conditions of the patients (Healthy People, 2015). As for me, in this case, I should make sure that all of my patients are vaccinated in time.
Another aspect, which can be improved is reduction of smoking, as this activity not only has a negative impact on the health of the smoker but also contributes to the pollution of surroundings and emission of dangerous gases. As a medical assistant, I can explain the negative consequences of smoking to people and encourage them to quit this habit. It is apparent that it will help reduce the number of smokers in the country.
Moreover, I should encourage my patients to minimize using the cars on the regular basis. It is apparent that cars produce many fumes and increase the air pollution. In this case, the air pollution has to be reduced. I should organize the bicycle day, as it might help people to improve their health condition and decrease the pollution of the air.
Furthermore, recycling is one of the activities, which can reduce the pollution of the environment. It is clear that the recycling and waste reduction are gaining popularity. However, some people still do not pay close attention and forget to recycle some types of products. In this case, I can organize the seminar, which will help increase the awareness of the significance of the waste recycling.
Summary and Conclusion
In conclusion, it could be said that the environmental factors have a strong influence on health. However, the impact is not always positive since some factors such as natural hazards, air pollution, poor quality of water, and favorable conditions for the development of the incurable viruses are hazardous. Nonetheless, it is clear that a majority of these factors occur due to the careless actions of people. The impact of human activities has to be eliminated, as it is not only dangerous for humans but also for the other living creatures, which inhabit the planet. However, it is apparent that each person has to contribute to finding the solutions to this problem, as it only can be resolved if all the humans try to reduce the spread of the pollution and improve the environmental factors simultaneously.
References
Cash, R., Halder, S., Husain, M., Islam, M., Mallick, F., May, M.,… Rahman, A. (2013). Reducing the health effect of natural hazards in bangladesh. The Lancet, 382(9910), 2094-2103.
Freire-Moran, L., Aronsson, B., Manz, C., Gyssens, I., So, A., Monnet, D., & Cars, O. (2011). Critical shortage of new antibiotics in development against multidrug-resistant bacteria—Time to react is now. Drug Resistance Updates, 14(2), 118-124.
Healthy People: Immunization and infectious diseases. (2015). Web.
Machdar, E., Steen, N., Raschid-Sally, L., & Lens, P. (2013). Application of quantitative microbial risk assessment to analyze the public health risk from poor drinking water quality in a low income area in Accra, Ghana. The Science of the Total Environment, 449, 134-142.
Xu, P., Chen, Y., & Ye, X. (2013). Haze, air pollution, and health in China. Lancet, 382(9910), 2067.