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Modern Environmental Health Hazards: A Public Health Issue of Increasing Significance in Africa
OBJECTIVES: Traditional hazards such as poor sanitation currently account for most of Africa’s environmentally related disease burden. However, with rapid development absent appropriate safeguards for environment and health, modern environmental health hazards (MEHHs) may emerge as critical contribu...
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Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
2009
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2702398/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19590675 http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.0800126 |
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author | Nweke, Onyemaechi C. Sanders III, William H. |
author_facet | Nweke, Onyemaechi C. Sanders III, William H. |
author_sort | Nweke, Onyemaechi C. |
collection | PubMed |
description | OBJECTIVES: Traditional hazards such as poor sanitation currently account for most of Africa’s environmentally related disease burden. However, with rapid development absent appropriate safeguards for environment and health, modern environmental health hazards (MEHHs) may emerge as critical contributors to the continent’s disease burden. We review recent evidence of human exposure to and health effects from MEHHs, and their occurrence in environmental media and consumer products. Our purpose is to highlight the growing significance of these hazards as African countries experience urbanization, industrial growth, and development. DATA SOURCES: We reviewed published epidemiologic, exposure, and environmental studies of chemical agents such as heavy metals and pesticides. DATA SYNTHESIS: The body of evidence demonstrates ongoing environmental releases of MEHHs and human exposures sometimes at toxicologically relevant levels. Several sources of MEHHs in environmental media have been identified, including natural resource mining and processing and automobile exhaust. Biomonitoring studies provided direct evidence of human exposure to metals such as mercury and lead and pesticides such as p,p′-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and organophosphates. Land and water resource pollution and industrial air toxics are areas of significant data gaps, notwithstanding the presence of several emitting sources. CONCLUSION: Unmitigated MEHH releases and human exposure have implications for Africa’s disease burden. For Africans encumbered by conditions such as malnutrition that impair resilience to toxicologic challenges, the burden may be higher. A shift in public health policy toward accommodating the emerging diversity in Africa’s environmental health issues is necessary to successfully alleviate the burden of avoidable ill health and premature death for all its communities now and in the future. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-2702398 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2009 |
publisher | National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-27023982009-07-09 Modern Environmental Health Hazards: A Public Health Issue of Increasing Significance in Africa Nweke, Onyemaechi C. Sanders III, William H. Environ Health Perspect Research OBJECTIVES: Traditional hazards such as poor sanitation currently account for most of Africa’s environmentally related disease burden. However, with rapid development absent appropriate safeguards for environment and health, modern environmental health hazards (MEHHs) may emerge as critical contributors to the continent’s disease burden. We review recent evidence of human exposure to and health effects from MEHHs, and their occurrence in environmental media and consumer products. Our purpose is to highlight the growing significance of these hazards as African countries experience urbanization, industrial growth, and development. DATA SOURCES: We reviewed published epidemiologic, exposure, and environmental studies of chemical agents such as heavy metals and pesticides. DATA SYNTHESIS: The body of evidence demonstrates ongoing environmental releases of MEHHs and human exposures sometimes at toxicologically relevant levels. Several sources of MEHHs in environmental media have been identified, including natural resource mining and processing and automobile exhaust. Biomonitoring studies provided direct evidence of human exposure to metals such as mercury and lead and pesticides such as p,p′-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and organophosphates. Land and water resource pollution and industrial air toxics are areas of significant data gaps, notwithstanding the presence of several emitting sources. CONCLUSION: Unmitigated MEHH releases and human exposure have implications for Africa’s disease burden. For Africans encumbered by conditions such as malnutrition that impair resilience to toxicologic challenges, the burden may be higher. A shift in public health policy toward accommodating the emerging diversity in Africa’s environmental health issues is necessary to successfully alleviate the burden of avoidable ill health and premature death for all its communities now and in the future. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 2009-06 2009-01-29 /pmc/articles/PMC2702398/ /pubmed/19590675 http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.0800126 Text en http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ Publication of EHP lies in the public domain and is therefore without copyright. All text from EHP may be reprinted freely. Use of materials published in EHP should be acknowledged (for example, ?Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives?); pertinent reference information should be provided for the article from which the material was reproduced. Articles from EHP, especially the News section, may contain photographs or illustrations copyrighted by other commercial organizations or individuals that may not be used without obtaining prior approval from the holder of the copyright. |
spellingShingle | Research Nweke, Onyemaechi C. Sanders III, William H. Modern Environmental Health Hazards: A Public Health Issue of Increasing Significance in Africa |
title | Modern Environmental Health Hazards: A Public Health Issue of Increasing Significance in Africa |
title_full | Modern Environmental Health Hazards: A Public Health Issue of Increasing Significance in Africa |
title_fullStr | Modern Environmental Health Hazards: A Public Health Issue of Increasing Significance in Africa |
title_full_unstemmed | Modern Environmental Health Hazards: A Public Health Issue of Increasing Significance in Africa |
title_short | Modern Environmental Health Hazards: A Public Health Issue of Increasing Significance in Africa |
title_sort | modern environmental health hazards: a public health issue of increasing significance in africa |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2702398/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19590675 http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.0800126 |
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