Modifiable Risk Factors
In 2006, WHO released a report entitled "Preventing disease through healthy environments: towards an estimate of the global burden of disease", which addressed how much global disease could be prevented by reducing environmental risk factors. The report confirmed that approximately one-quarter of the global disease burden, and more than one-third of the burden among children, is due to modifiable environmental factors. The "environmentally-mediated" disease burden is much higher in developing countries, with the exception of certain non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancers, where the per capita disease burden is larger in developed countries. Children have the highest death toll, with more than 4 million environmentally-caused deaths yearly, mostly in developing countries. The infant death rate attributed to environmental causes is 12 times higher in developing countries. Moreover, the report stated that 85 out of the 102 major diseases and injuries classified by WHO can be attributed to environmental factors.
To measure the environmental health impact, environment was defined as "all the physical, chemical and biological factors external to a person, and all the related behaviours".
Based on the definition of modifiable environment above, it includes:
- Air, soil, and water pollution with chemicals or biological agents
- Ultraviolet and ionizing radiation
- Noise and electromagnetic fields
- Built environment
- Agricultural methods and irrigation schemes
- Anthropogenic climate changes and ecosystem degradation
- Occupational risks
- Individual behaviors related to the environment, such as hand-washing and food contamination due to unsafe water or dirty hands.
Environmental factors that are excluded from this definition include:
- Indoor smoke from solid fuel use
- Outdoor air pollution
- Second-hand smoke
- Sanitation and hygiene problems
- Solar ultraviolet radiation
- Climate change
- Occupational carcinogens
- Occupational airborne particulates
- Lead
- Mercury
Read more about this topic: Disease Burden
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