Environment &

Health
 Definition
s
Environment: any things surrounding us & can
affect health
 Environmental sanitation: properties &
requisites of clean environment.
 Environmental health: protection of
human health from hazards of unsanitary
environment.
Components of environmental sanitation
 1- Town
planning
Proper planning of a new district or city or
village before construction
 Basic requirements of planning
are:
 New city must be classified into industrial, commercial
& residential zones.
 Wide streets, parks, green
areas
extinguishing center
 Available health services, ,
fire transportation methods.
Sanitary housing- 2
 2- Sanitary
housing
The health conditions that must be
fulfilled in any building.
 Basic requirements of sanitary
building:
1. Far from industrial areas, volcanoes or river floods-
quit place-clean surroundings
2. Made of safe, strong materials & proper foundations
to overcome rains, destruction
3. Privacy: separate house for each family & adequate
rooms in relation to individuals.
4. Adequate ventilation.
5. Adequate lighting.
6. Sanitary water supply.
7. Sanitary waste disposal.
8.Safety measures for prevention of accidents:
good lighting, safe furniture.
 Question
s
1 State the criteria for choosing new house?

2 What are the priorities for selecting healthy house

with limited resources?
 Slum
s
 Narrow streets, densely populated with poor housing
& unsanitary environment.
 Hazards of Slum areas & Unsanitary
housing

 Increased rate of infection & death

 Increased accidents as fire, falls
 Increased social problems: addiction, crime
 Psychological problems due to lack of privacy
&
crowdedness.
How can we solve the health problems of
slum areas?

 Build new towns in distant areas with all

services
 Low renting of houses
 Prevent illegal construction of houses
without sanitary water or waste disposal.
 Increase working chances to
increase socioeconomic status.
 Urbanizatio
It n
is the process of migration of people from rural to urban areas for
better opportunities of jobs, services & recreation.

Health hazards of urbanization:

1 Over crowdedness, leading to more lowering of socio economic standard &
bad sanitary conditions. (slum areas)

2 Spread of communicable diseases “TB, skin diseases, parasites,

respiratory infections”.

3Social problems, quarrel, homicides 4-

Delinquency, drug abuse, more crimes.

 3- Ventilation & air
sanitation

 Ventilation: providing and or removing air from a

confined place by natural or artificial means.

Types of
ventilation
 Natural ventilation
 artificial ventilation
Natural ventilation: windows, other openings
of adequate area & distribution to introduce fresh
air.
 Artificial ventilation: air condition &
fans
 Air
Sanitation

Quality & Quantity of

components of air that can
affect health.
Causes of unsanitary
air
 Natural correction of unsanitary
air
1. Wind & air movements:
dilution of substances
2. Plants & trees: give
O2 & absorb CO2
(photosynthesis)
3. Rains: dissolve gases &
fumes, settle down
suspended dust.
 Hazards of
cHemical cHanges
in a i r
(air pollution)
Components of
air:
 Def. of air
pollution:
Introduction of one or more pollutants in
the
atmosphere.

Or: presence of unwanted material in air

in sufficient amount & for sufficient
time to
interfere with comfort of man, or to affect
his health.
 Sources of air
1- Respirationpollution:
of man, animals & plants (O2 decreases, CO2, temp.
& humidity increase, & expired air may contain microorganisms).
2- Combustion of fuel by transportation vehicles or machines.
3- Fermentation of organic materials in refuse (CO2 increases &
foul smell is produced).
4- Volcanoes & forest fires (fumes & different gases of
melted metals, CO2, CO, ashes & smog after burn of trees).
5- Dust from streets, homes, & agriculture wastes.
6- EMWs from TVs & mobile telephones.
7- Excessive noise especially in cities.
8- Industrial wastes as dust, gases, fumes, & vapors.
 1- Total Suspended
particulate:
They are present in the form of aerosols (solid
particles or liquid droplets suspended in a gaseous
medium) such as dust, pollens, smoke.

Sources: Combustion, industry.

Hazards: Reduce visibility & cause respiratory

problems such as pneumoconiosis (particles less than
2.5 μm).
 2- Sulfur
Dioxide:

It is a colorless & corrosive. It dissolves in water

present in the air to form sulfuric acid.

Sources: Volcanic eruption, fuel combustion in industry.

Hazards: Damaging to lungs (aggravation of

CLD), plants & animals.
 3- Nitrogen
dioxides:
It combines with water to form nitric acid, which is
responsible for atmospheric acidification (Acid
rain).

Sources: High temperature combustion and action of

bacteria on nitrogen containing compounds in the
soil.

Hazards: Acute & chronic respiratory diseases

and property destruction.
 4- Carbon
oxides:
Carbon monoxide: It is highly toxic and results from
incomplete combustion. It has great affinity for
hemoglobin (Carboxy hemoglobin).

Source: Internal combustion engines.

Hazard: Combine irreversibly with hemoglobin leading

to asphyxia.
*Carbon Dioxide: It is non-toxic in low concentration. Its
increase in concentration contributes to the problem of global
warming.

Source: Mainly respiration but it is balanced by

photosynthesis (bad effect of deforestation) and from fossil
fuel combustion.

Hazards: Increases earth temperature thus producing

undesirable climatic changes.
 5-
Lead:
It is responsible for 2/3 of all metallic air pollution.

Sources:Leaded gasoline, lead processing,

smelters, paints and burning materials containing lead.

Hazards: Neurotoxin that causes mental

retardation especially in children.
 6-
Ozone:

It is formed by a 2ry atmospheric reaction driven by

solar energy in the form of UV rays (photochemical
reaction).

Source: It is formed in the atmosphere.

Hazard: Eye irritation and respiratory impairment.

 7-
Hydrocarbons:

They are volatile organic compounds that exist as

gases in the air.

Source: transportation & petroleum refineries.

Hazards: Some are carcinogens.

There are also minor industrial pollutants either
because they are present in minor amounts or
they have minor health hazards.

Examples: asbestos, benzene, mercury,

noise, odors, radiation etc.
 Other classification of air pollution
according to its site:

1.Outdoor pollution (atmospheric pollution):

The wider type of pollution.
It deals with an open & unlimited environment.
It affects more population, living things and property.

2. Indoor pollution:
It deals with limited & mostly closed environments e.g. houses
& work environments.
More hazardous than outdoor air pollution because we spent
more time inside our houses & the concentration of pollutants
are much higher (much tightly closed) than in ambient air.
Harmful Effects of Air
Pollution
 1- Damage to
health:
Air pollution is associated with a higher level of morbidity &
mortality. Pollutants in air can affect mostly the respiratory system,
the skin and the gastrointestinal tract.

•Exposure to air pollutants can cause or exacerbate COPD,

BA, acute respiratory diseases.
•It exacerbates cardiovascular problems and may even cause death
in individuals with impaired coronary circulation.
•Carcinogenic & mutagenic agents cause various hazards to human
health e.g. malignancy & birth defects.
 2- Annoyance to
senses:

 Eye, nose & throat irritation

 Bad odor & limited visibility
Due to increase of some pollutants such
as sulfur compounds, dust etc.
Sky or overhead darkening is the result of
either heavy smoke or a mixture of
smoke
and fog in most urban areas.
 3- Interference with
production:

Increased temperature, heavy smog cause

automobile & traffic delays, poor visibility,
lethargy, poor concentration & absenteeism from
various establishments.
4- Property
Damage:
Metal parts of building, roofs & other metal
equipment are usually damaged chiefly by corrosion
from acidic compounds in polluted atmosphere
(SO2 forms with water vapor H2 SO4 also hydrogen
chloride reacts with water vapor to form highly
corrosive droplets of Fog).
Cracking of rubber and various forms of
electrical insulation are thought to be caused by
ozone (O3).

Deterioration of painted surface is caused by a variety

of air contaminants.
 5- Damage to
vegetation:
The injury to vegetation varies from invisible
injury to growth retardation of various plants,
which depend on the concentration & duration
of exposure to the toxic substance present in air
as Sulfur compounds and ozone.
 a) Global
Warming:
Greenhouse gases (CO2, water vapor, trace amounts of ozone,
nitrous oxide, CFCs), act like the glass pan of a greenhouse i.e.
allowing light, IR radiation and some UV rays to pass through the
troposphere.

The earth surface absorbs much of this solar energy & degraded
it to IR radiation (heat). Some of this heat escapes into space
and some will be absorbed and trapped by the greenhouse
gases and so increase the earth's temperature.

This trapping of heat is called the greenhouse effect and leads to

global warming.
Global
warming
 b) Ozone layer
perforation:
The ozone layer, the global sunscreen, is formed by the
interaction of O2 with light & solar energy.
Its presence in the stratosphere keeps about 99% of
harmful UV rays, thus protecting man against sunburn,
eye cataract, cancers and damage to immune system.
It prevents much of the conversion of O2 in the
troposphere to O3 which is harmful to humans.
The elevation of temperature due to the greenhouse
gases lead to the formation of O3 in the troposphere
with all its bad effects.
 c) Smog
formation:
Smog is a mixture of 1ry & 2ry pollutants that forms
when some of the 1ry pollutants interact under the
influence of sunlight.
Normally, during the day, the sun warms the air which
rises up carrying pollutants away from the surface leaving
a cooler layer with less concentration of pollutants.
Sometimes, weather conditions trap a layer of dense cool
air beneath a layer of less dense warm air, a
phenomenon called thermal inversion and thus prevents
ascending of pollutants away from earth.
 d) Acid
Rain:
Due to increased emissions of SO2 & NOx from fuel
combustion, acids form from their reaction with
water leading to formation of acid rain.
This acid rain leads to damage of plants, soil,
buildings etc.
Air Quality Index
(AQI)
 Air Quality Index
(AQI)
The AQI is an index for reporting daily air quality.

EPA calculates the AQI for 5 major air pollutants regulated by the
Clean Air Act: ground-level O3, particle pollution (particulate
matter), CO, SO2, and NO2.

AQI scale is from 0 to 500. The higher the AQI value, the greater
the level of air pollution and the greater the health concern.

The purpose of the AQI is to help you understand what local air
quality means to your health. The AQI is divided into 6 categories
 Air quality index (AQI)
values
AQI values are derived from air quality data readings of
pollutants affecting air quality. The index is derived
using the following formula:

AQI values below 100 are generally

thought of as satisfactory.
The data readings are recorded in different units
of measure, depending on the type of
pollutant.
Air Quality Guide for Particle
Pollution
 Which is more hazardous outdoor
or indoor pollution?
 Indoor is more hazardous due to:
1 we spent most of our time indoor 90% (house-
school- office)
2 high concentration of pollutants( much tightly
closed) than in ambient air.
Why we must control the
air pollution problem

 Prevent health hazards

 Increase human comfort, production
 Prevent property damage
 Prevent vegetation damage
 Protect ozone layer
 Prevent global warming, climate
changes.
 Control of air
pollution
1- Outdoor:
 Industrial control:
A- adequate zoning of industries in special areas.

B- control at source level:

- substitution of highly toxic by less one.
- modification or changes process or
equipment.
- adequate house-keeping & disposal of
wastes.

C- particulate removal technique:

- filter removal of particles.
 Transport control:
- control emission from car (lead free fuel).
- minimize traffic load inside cities (out cities
roads).
 Legislation:
- determine degree of pollution.
- continuous monitoring of air pollution.
- preservation of nature air purification (forest,
trees).
 2- Indoor air pollution
control
 Regularly ventilate houses.
 Test the level of pollution.
 Avoid strong gasoline and solvents in houses.
 Grow plants in houses.
 Avoid smoking in houses.
 Don’t use aerosols spray products.
 Heater, stoves are properly installed and
maintained.
 In factories; workers must used masks &
regularly checked for lung function
 3- Ozone
layer
 Avoid using products containing CFC
 Don’t use aerosol spray
 Check house appliances that contain ferion such
as refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners
 Questio
n
Start by yourself, how can you prevent the health
hazards of air pollution?
 Cultivation of plants, trees
 Decrease use of Freon, pesticides
 Sanitary waste disposal
Transport control , decrease
emission of cars
Thank
you