Community Risk Assessment Case Study

The current case study assesses the community risk and describes the human health impact of the heavy metal ground water pollution problem. The community risk will be measured by the epidemiological parameters such as prevalence measuring the burden of the resulting disease (outcome) and incidence/mortality rates indicating the risk of the disease or outcome. The socio-economic implications will also be discussed in this paper.
Community risk assessment

The purpose of community risk assessment (CRA) is to identify the various risks predominating in a community (Community Risk Assessment Guide » Vision 20/20, n.d). CRA utilizes the data to identify both current risks and trends based upon the historical information (Community Risk Assessment
It has also been estimated that the percentage of cancer cases would further increase to 70% by the end of the year 2020 (Thakur et al., 2008). According to a study’s survey in Punjab (2008), the age adjusted prevalence of cancer was 125.4 per 100,000, with females bearing the greater burden (Thakur et al.,2008). The cancer mortality rate was reported to be ranged from 30-50 per 1,00,000 population/year in different regions of the Punjab (Thakur et al., 2008). The number of cancer cases in Malwa region is nearly twice as that of national average (Kumar & Kaur, 2014). According to a recent data from the Malwa health department, the number of cancer patients is 120-125 per lakh as compared to 71 per lakh national average (Kumar & Kaur, 2014). The most common cases reported among females were cancers involving the females’ reproductive systems such as breast and uterine/ovary cancer (Thakur et al., 2008). However, other parts of Punjab reported to have other types of cancers involving blood and lymphatic systems of the body (Thakur et al., 2008). The adverse birth outcomes were also reported among females including spontaneous abortion (20.6 per 1000 live births) and premature births (6.7 per 1000 live births) (Thakur, 2009). According to a recent study, uranium levels and its carcinogenicity were
With 70% of rural population, areas having poor water quality were reported to have more cancer cases (Thakur et al.,2008). In addition, unhygienic living conditions among rural populations, increased participation in agriculture activities (people involved in pesticide spraying and storage) places agricultural personnel at greater risk of having cancers (Thakur et al., 2008; Kumar & Kaur, 2014). The other social factor, which has a significant impact is education (Kumar & Kaur, 2014). Educated individual are more likely to report the early symptoms and will get early diagnosis and medical care to prevent the further progression of the life threatening conditions such as