Untitled Quiz

Environment: An Issue for Nurses

• The environment encompasses physical, social, political, legal, psychological, and cognitive factors within families and communities.
• Environmental Health (EH) focuses on freedom from illness arising from environmental contaminants, hazards, and toxins.
• Environmental hazards significantly impact human health, linking to chronic diseases.
• Increased industrialization contributes to environmental deterioration.

2007 WHO Report

• Public health largely depends on safe drinking water, sufficient food, secure shelter, and good social conditions.
• Climate change is likely to affect these conditions.

Climate Change and Global Warming

• Climate change, globally, poses the largest health threat of the 21st century.
• The WHO predicts growing illness and mortality due to environmental changes.
• Climate change brings challenges of water scarcity, food insecurity, and extreme weather (e.g., heat waves, floods).
• Climate change also leads to an increase in vector-borne diseases.

Environmental Hazards

• Specific hazards include unsafe drinking water, lack of sanitation, air pollution, exposure to toxins, waste dumping, and overcrowded housing.
• These hazards have severe impacts on public health.

Water Safety

• Globally, 1.8 billion people rely on contaminated water sources.
• Water contamination comes from human, industrial, and agricultural waste.
• Public water systems are regulated by governing bodies.
• Safe drinking water policies, like the Walkerton incident, demonstrate the need for proper water treatment and regulations.

Air Pollution

• Air pollution results from burning fossil fuels (e.g., oil, coal, gas) and cooking/heating fuels.
• Children are highly vulnerable to air pollution, breathing more rapidly and inhaling more pollutants per pound of body weight compared to adults.
• People with lung problems (like asthma) are at greater risk due to air pollution.
• Air pollution increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and respiratory illnesses.
• Asthma cases have increased dramatically since the 1990s.

Chemical Pollution

• Man-made chemicals (like fertilizers, pesticides, heavy metals) are released into the environment.
• These chemicals persist in the environment and build up in fatty tissues, affecting organs like the liver and kidneys.
• Children are particularly vulnerable to chemical exposure due to their size and propensity for hand-to-mouth activity, absorption through skin and intestines.

Inside Environments

• Substandard housing conditions affect a significant proportion of Canadians.
• Most Canadians spend 90% of their time indoors.
• Indoor environments often suffer from poor air quality due to smoking, mold, and inadequate ventilation.
• Single-parent families, young adults, those with mental health issues, and older adults face particular housing challenges.
• Overcrowding is a significant concern, exacerbated in on-reserve housing.

Environmental Sensitivity

• Exposure to certain chemicals can cause detrimental symptoms that limit people's participation in public life.
• These symptoms include neurological impairments, headaches, and breathing and digestive problems.

Contaminated Social Environments

• Social environments characterized by degradation, violence, poverty, overcrowding, crime, and visible substance abuse harm the physical, psychosocial, and emotional wellbeing of those living there.