Setting the scene and how to read the book

2018 ◽  
pp. 3-10
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Natural Environments

Human health depends on nature. This is a basic statement on which the fundaments of this book rest. Functional and diverse ecosystems, from which we derive fresh air and water, soil to grow food, timber to build houses, settings for play and recreation, are a prerequisite for human health and survival. The latest centuries’ unprecedented speed in societal and environmental changes has come to threaten the health of natural environments and by this threatening our own health. While we cannot, and should not, reverse the trend of sound development, we need to find better and healthier ways to interact with nature—in urban as well as in non-urban areas. This chapter will give a background to this book’s development and put the topic of nature and public health into a broad, outreaching context. It also presents an overview of the book’s full content, giving a brief description of each chapter.

scholarly journals Nature-Based Citizen Science as a Mechanism to Improve Human Health in Urban Areas

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Craig R. Williams ◽  
Sophie M. Burnell ◽  
Michelle Rogers ◽  
Emily J. Flies ◽  
Katherine L. Baldock
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Natural Environments

The world is becoming increasingly urbanised, impacting human interactions with natural environments (NEs). NEs take a number of forms, ranging from pristine, modified, to built NEs, which are common in many urban areas. NEs may include nature-based solutions, such as introducing nature elements and biological processes into cities that are used to solve problems created by urbanisation. Whilst urbanisation has negative impacts on human health, impacting mental and physical wellbeing through a number of mechanisms, exposure to NEs may improve human health and wellbeing. Here, we review the mechanisms by which health can be improved by exposure to NEs, as explained by Stress Reduction Theory, Attention Restoration Theory, and the ‘Old Friends’/biodiversity hypothesis. Such exposures may have physiological and immunological benefits, mediated through endocrine pathways and altered microbiota. Citizen Science, which often causes exposure to NEs and social activity, is being increasingly used to not only collect scientific data but also to engage individuals and communities. Despite being a named component of scientific and environmental strategies of governments, to our knowledge, the intrinsic health benefits of Citizen Science in NEs do not form part of public health policy. We contend that Citizen Science programs that facilitate exposure to NEs in urban areas may represent an important public health policy advance.

scholarly journals Biodiversity and Health in the Urban Environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa R. Marselle ◽  
Sarah J. Lindley ◽  
Penny A. Cook ◽  
Aletta Bonn
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Causal Pathways ◽  
Health And Well Being

Abstract Purpose of review Biodiversity underpins urban ecosystem functions that are essential for human health and well-being. Understanding how biodiversity relates to human health is a developing frontier for science, policy and practice. This article describes the beneficial, as well as harmful, aspects of biodiversity to human health in urban environments. Recent findings Recent research shows that contact with biodiversity of natural environments within towns and cities can be both positive and negative to human physical, mental and social health and well-being. For example, while viruses or pollen can be seriously harmful to human health, biodiverse ecosystems can promote positive health and well-being. On balance, these influences are positive. As biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, research suggests that its loss could threaten the quality of life of all humans. Summary A key research gap is to understand—and evidence—the specific causal pathways through which biodiversity affects human health. A mechanistic understanding of pathways linking biodiversity to human health can facilitate the application of nature-based solutions in public health and influence policy. Research integration as well as cross-sector urban policy and planning development should harness opportunities to better identify linkages between biodiversity, climate and human health. Given its importance for human health, urban biodiversity conservation should be considered as public health investment.

scholarly journals Environmental noise levels and noise annoyance in Novi Sad, 2012-2016

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Zivadinovic ◽  
M Jevtic ◽  
N Dragic ◽  
S Bijelovic
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Noise Level ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Road Traffic Noise ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Novi Sad ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Objective Increased noise level represents a significant public health problem in urban environments. The aim of this paper is to examine the annoyance of the population by road traffic noise in the City of Novi Sad. Methods The results of 161 24-hour noise measurements in Novi Sad were analyzed. Measurements were done by Public Health Institute of Vojvodina, according to accredited and standardized national methodology during 2012 - 2016. Results Total noise indicator (Lden) / night noise indicator (Lnight) ranged from 61,1 dB / 50,7 dB in residential, up to 66,3 dB / 58,1 dB in recreation / hospital areas, 68,0 dB / 60,3 dB in city traffic areas and 70,2 dB / 62,7 dB in business and residential areas. Taking into account the results and using methodology prescribed by national regulations, the percentage of highly annoyed population (% HA) was found to be in the range 11-25% during the day, and 6-13% during the night. Using ISO 1996-1:2016, prevalence of a population highly annoyed (PHA) was established to be in the range 9,2-33,9% in residential; 18,4-45,7% in recreation / hospital areas 22,9-50,6 in city traffic; 27,7-55,4% in business and residential areas. Conclusions The results confirm that urban noise seriously disturbs people. It was established that about a half of the population was highly annoyed which poses a serious challenge for public health. The results have social, health and economic importance for the population. Activities to reduce the noise level could also stimulate economic, health, social and community programs for sustainable development aiming to preserve and improve human health. Acknowledgment: Supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia - Project “Biosensing Technologies and Global System for Continuous Research and Integrated Management”, No.43002 Key messages Continous noise monitoring is important for understanding the impact of noise on human health. About a half of the population was highly annoyed by noise, which poses a big challenge for public health in urban areas.

The great outdoors: forests, wilderness, and public health

2018 ◽  
pp. 147-153
Author(s):  
Qing Li ◽  
Simon Bell
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Physical Health ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Nature Reserves ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Human Intervention ◽  
Natural Landscapes ◽  
Health And Well Being

Forests and other areas are considered by many people to represent natural landscapes with the appearance of minimal human intervention or few human elements, far removed from where most people live nowadays. While some nature reserves and significant forests lie close to various urban areas, providing opportunities for a daily escape from the stresses of urban life, many lie at a distance. The contrast in the character and qualities of forests and wilderness offers many special opportunities and benefits to human health and well-being. The clean, oxygen-rich atmosphere free of pollution, the enveloping depths of a silent forest, or the chance for solitary engagement with nature all combine to provide physiological, psychological, and physical health benefits, the evidence for which has been gradually accumulating in recent decades. Our understanding of some of the mechanisms facilitating this is beginning to evolve, but more work is needed to confirm many tentative findings.

Public health preparedness for the impact of global warming on human health

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 217-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Wassel, MD, MHS(c)
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Pubmed Database ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Global Environmental Changes ◽  
The Impact

Objective: To assess the changes in weather and weather-associated disturbances related to global warming; the impact on human health of these changes; and the public health preparedness mandated by this impact.Design: Qualitative review of the literature. Articles will be obtained by searching PubMed database, Google, and Google Scholar search engines using terms such as “global warming,” “climate change,” “human health,” “public health,” and “preparedness.”Results: Sixty-seven journal articles were reviewed.Conclusions: The projections and signs of global environmental changes are worrisome, and there are reasons to believe that related information may have been conservatively interpreted and presented in the recent past. Although the challenges are great, there are many opportunities for devising beneficial solutions at individual, community, and global levels. It is essential for public health professionals to become involved in advocating for change at all of these levels, as well as through professional organizations.We must begin “greening” our own lives and clinical practice, and start talking about these issues with patients. As we build walkable neighborhoods, change methods of energy production, and make water use and food production and distribution more sustainable, the benefits to improved air quality, a stabilized climate, social support, and individual and community health will be dramatic.

scholarly journals The Story behind COVID-19: Animal Diseases at the Crossroads of Wildlife, Livestock and Human Health

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-227
Author(s):  
Nicolas DE SADELEER ◽  
Jacques GODFROID
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Fairy Tale ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Animal Reservoir ◽  
Animal Diseases ◽  
Wild Fauna

A number of virological, epidemiological and ethnographic arguments suggest that COVID-19 has a zoonotic origin. The pangolin, a species threatened with extinction due to poaching for both culinary purposes and traditional Chinese pharmacopoeia, is now suspected of being the “missing link” in the transmission to humans of a virus that probably originated in a species of bat. Our predation of wild fauna and the reduction in their habitats have thus ended up creating new interfaces that favour the transmission of pathogens (mainly viruses) to humans. Domesticated animals and wild fauna thus constitute a reservoir for almost 80% of emerging human diseases (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, Ebola). These diseases are all zoonotic in origin. As if out of a Chinese fairy tale, the bat and the pangolin have taught us a lesson: within an increasingly interdependent world, environmental crises will become ever more intertwined with health crises. Questions relating to public health will no longer be confined to the secrecy of the physician’s consulting room or the sanitised environment of the hospital. They are now being played out in the arena of international trade, ports and airports and distribution networks. Simply put, all human activity creates new interfaces that facilitate the transmission of pathogens from an animal reservoir to humans. This pluri-disciplinary article highlights that environmental changes, such as the reduction in habitats for wild fauna and the intemperate trade in fauna, are the biggest causes of the emergence of new diseases. Against this background, it reviews the different measures taken to control, eradicate and prevent the emergence of animal diseases in a globalised world.

Urban Greening and Human-Wildlife Relations in Philadelphia: From Animal Control to Multispecies Coexistence?

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Hunold
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Runoff ◽  
Urban Wildlife ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Urban Greening ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Animal Control

City-scale urban greening is expanding wildlife habitat in previously less hospitable urban areas. Does this transformation also prompt a reckoning with the longstanding idea that cities are places intended to satisfy primarily human needs? I pose this question in the context of one of North America's most ambitious green infrastructure programmes to manage urban runoff: Philadelphia's Green City, Clean Waters. Given that the city's green infrastructure plans have little to say about wildlife, I investigate how wild animals fit into urban greening professionals' conceptions of the urban. I argue that practitioners relate to urban wildlife via three distinctive frames: 1) animal control, 2) public health and 3) biodiversity, and explore the implications of each for peaceful human-wildlife coexistence in 'greened' cities.

EPEGENTIC TOXICOLOGY: PERSPECTIVES OF THE DEVELOPMENT

2018 ◽  
pp. 2-7
Author(s):  
G. A. Sofronov ◽  
E. L. Patkin
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Chronic Exposure ◽  
Environmental Pollutants ◽  
Epigenetic Mechanisms ◽  
Epigenetic Changes ◽  
Mechanism Of Formation ◽  
Health Disorders ◽  
Time Periods

One of the complex problems of modern experimental toxicology remains the molecular mechanism of formation of human health disorders separated at different time periods from acute or chronic exposure to toxic environmental pollutants (ecotoxicants). Identifying and understanding what epigenetic changes are induced by the environment, and how they can lead to unfavorable outcome, are vital for protecting public health. Therefore, we consider it important a modern understanding of epigenetic mechanisms involved in the life cycle of mammals and assess available data on the environmentally caused epigenetic toxicity and, accordingly fledging epigenenomic (epigenetic) regulatory toxicology.

EU Health Law & Policy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anniek de Ruijter
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Division Of Powers ◽  
Legal Principle ◽  
Legal Competence ◽  
The Eu

This book describes the expansion of EU power in health care and public health and analyses the implications of this expansion on EU health values and rights. The main conclusion of the book is that the EU is de facto balancing fundamental rights and values relating to health, implicitly taking on obligations for safeguarding fundamental rights in the field of health and affecting individuals’ rights sometimes without an explicit legal competence to do so. This brings to light instances where EU health policy has implications for fundamental rights and values without the possibility to challenge the exercise of power of the EU in human health. This begs the question of whether subsidiarity is still the most relevant legal principle for the division of powers and tasks among the Member States, particularly when EU policy and law involves the politically sensitive areas of health care and public health. This question draws out the parameter for continuing the debate on the role of the European Union in promoting its own values and the wellbeing of its peoples, in light of its ever-growing role in human health issues.

scholarly journals Evidence-Based Landscape Architecture for Human Health and Well-Being

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Brown ◽  
Robert C. Corry
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Landscape Architecture ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
The People ◽  
Outdoor Environments ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health And Well Being

More than 80% of the people in the USA and Canada live in cities. Urban development replaces natural environments with built environments resulting in limited access to outdoor environments which are critical to human health and well-being. In addition, many urban open spaces are unused because of poor design. This paper describes case studies where traditional landscape architectural design approaches would have compromised design success, while evidence-based landscape architecture (EBLA) resulted in a successful product. Examples range from school-yard design that provides safe levels of solar radiation for children, to neighborhood parks and sidewalks that encourage people to walk and enjoy nearby nature. Common characteristics for integrating EBLA into private, public, and academic landscape architecture practice are outlined along with a discussion of some of the opportunities and barriers to implementation.

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