Environment and health

The key to man's health lies largely in his environment. In fact, much of man's illhealth can be traced to adverse environmental factors such as water pollution , soil pollution, air pollution, poor housing conditions, presence of animal reserviours and insect vectors of diseases which pose a constant threat to man's health. Often man is responsible for the pollution of his environment through urbanization, industrialization, and other human activities. In 1972 the UN conference on the human environment focussed world-wide attention on the environmental hazards that threaten human beings. To facilitate work in this area, WHO has compiled a wide ranging survey of environmental hazards to human health.
Sanitation is the science of safeguarding health. The term environmental sanitation had been defined by WHO as the control of all those factors in man's physical environment which excercise a deleterious effect on his physical development, health and survival.
The purpose of environmental health is to create and maintain ecological conditions that will promote health and thus prevent disease. One of the essential public health care element is safe drinking water and sanitation. The high death rate, infant motality rate, sickness rate and poor standards of health are infact largely due to defactive environmental sanitation. Improvement of environmental sanitation is therefore crucial for the prevention of disease and promotion of health of individuals and communities.