Environmental Health
Explain how human activity can damage the environment (P1)
Overcrowding: Overcrowding in houses can arise from several causes, and the physical and psychological effects on people living in overcrowded conditions can be quite severe. Overcrowding poses serious direct and indirect health risks to all segments of the population, particularly the elderly, young children, and the disabled. Overcrowding results in insufficient ventilation in homes, causing or exacerbating respiratory illness. Susceptibility to disease, the severity of diseases, the spreading of illness, and the mortality due to disease all increase as a result of social and physical overcrowding. Overcrowding physically and emotionally overburdens mothers and other caregivers, increasing health risks of dependents. Lack of space and overcrowding directly impacts on the physical development and psychological wellbeing of disabled residents.
Children living in overcrowded and unfit conditions are more likely to experience respiratory problems such as coughing and asthmatic and wheezing. For many children this means losing sleep, restricted physical activity, and missing school.
Effects of overcrowding include meningitis, tuberculosis, heart disease, stomach cancer, respiratory disease. Children in overcrowded housing are up to 10 times more likely to contract meningitis than children in general. Meningitis can be life threatening. Long-term effects of the disease include deafness, blindness and behavioural problems. Children in unfit and overcrowded homes miss school more frequently due to illnesses and infections. Overcrowding is linked to delayed cognitive development, and homelessness to delayed development in communication skills.
Urbanization: Movement of people from rural to urban areas with population growth equating to urban migration. It is a double edged sword as on one hand it provides people with varied opportunities and scope for economic development and on the other hand it exposes
Overcrowding: Overcrowding in houses can arise from several causes, and the physical and psychological effects on people living in overcrowded conditions can be quite severe. Overcrowding poses serious direct and indirect health risks to all segments of the population, particularly the elderly, young children, and the disabled. Overcrowding results in insufficient ventilation in homes, causing or exacerbating respiratory illness. Susceptibility to disease, the severity of diseases, the spreading of illness, and the mortality due to disease all increase as a result of social and physical overcrowding. Overcrowding physically and emotionally overburdens mothers and other caregivers, increasing health risks of dependents. Lack of space and overcrowding directly impacts on the physical development and psychological wellbeing of disabled residents.
Children living in overcrowded and unfit conditions are more likely to experience respiratory problems such as coughing and asthmatic and wheezing. For many children this means losing sleep, restricted physical activity, and missing school.
Effects of overcrowding include meningitis, tuberculosis, heart disease, stomach cancer, respiratory disease. Children in overcrowded housing are up to 10 times more likely to contract meningitis than children in general. Meningitis can be life threatening. Long-term effects of the disease include deafness, blindness and behavioural problems. Children in unfit and overcrowded homes miss school more frequently due to illnesses and infections. Overcrowding is linked to delayed cognitive development, and homelessness to delayed development in communication skills.
Urbanization: Movement of people from rural to urban areas with population growth equating to urban migration. It is a double edged sword as on one hand it provides people with varied opportunities and scope for economic development and on the other hand it exposes