Human life is well-adapted to our planet. A healthy environment is essential to optimal health and well-being. Conversely, disease and early death are often due to environmental agents called pathogens, both biological and physicochemical. Climate change, heatwaves, floods, land degradation, and the loss of biodiversity also threaten human health in a variety of ways, both direct and indirect.
Pollution causes or worsens respiratory illness, cancer, accidents, and deaths. Today, up to 7 million early deaths occur because of air pollution, outdoor and indoor. Polluted drinking water causes 1.7 million deaths.

Shortages of safe water, as well as flooding, have led to the displacement of over 24 million people worldwide in almost 120 countries in 2016.

The rising temperatures predispose to heat-related morbidity like heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and strokes. Productivity goes down, food poisoning increases; kidney disease risk increases, as do crime rates and sleeplessness. Cardiovascular disease worsens as does the number of workplace accidents.

Changes in agricultural practices and clearing land for farming are often associated with outbreaks of debilitating disease. These include Guinea worm infestation, schistosomiasis, and malaria, which infect 10 million, 200 million, and almost 300 million people every year, respectively. Other illnesses transmitted via a contaminated water system include dengue, filaria, and African river snail disease (up to 60 million, 90 million, and 20 million infected annually).

Four million children and babies die of diarrheal diseases from contamination of their food or water. Hundreds of times this number have intestinal parasites and debilitating diarrhea. It is estimated that over a million die of malaria every year, worldwide, among over 260 million cases. Most of these are children less than five years old.

In fact, up to a fifth of all deaths in the Europe region of the World Health Organization (WHO) map is attributed to environmental factors that strain human health.
Environmental vs Population Health

It is widely accepted that a huge explosion occurred in population growth around the world, whereby the population increased over five-fold from 1800 to 1990. Today there are eight billion people on the planet, up from 5 billion in 1990.

This has put enormous demands on the supply chain for food, water, clothing, education, jobs, and medical/social care. The resulting shortfalls, caused largely by human greed rather than actual shortages of resources, have reduced living conditions to critical levels in satellite towns and cities. Poor sanitation and hygiene facilities, lack of drinking water, and noise pollution are just some of the vicious cycles taking place as a result.

The lack of open spaces for recreation and exposure to natural elements, such as large parks with trees, bushes, and walking paths, as well as playgrounds and bike trails, is an important element in promoting ill-health and reducing the quality of life.

It is possible to take steps that bring down infant and child mortality while also improving healthcare for mothers, and making more education and employment opportunities available to them. All measures that raise the standard of living and reduce the mortality rates, among women and children also encourage global human and environmental health.

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