Environmental factors can contribute to UK Patterns and trends in
the UK.
Rural areas are usually ones that are referred to as less densely populated and have more
agricultural characteristics such as open green spaces and farms so are seen as more natural
environments. Rural environments are seen as healthier option for health and well being as
there is fresher air, more space and lower crime rates. Rural areas can however still affect
health in many ways such as isolation, occupational stress, economic crises and unforeseen
events which can contribute to mental health problems. In contrast to this, urban areas are
ones with a high population density and the environment has more infrastructure so are
more associated with towns and cities rather than villages like rural environments. They can
affect health and illness in ways such as lower life expectancies and more deaths from
smoking.
Waste management means the collection, transportation, disposal or recycling and
monitoring of waste. This term is assigned to the material, waste material that is produced
through human being activity. Landfill is a specifically popular option, where nearly 80% of
the 28 million tonnes of waste is disposed each year. It is used as a popular option to dispose
of waste for economic reasons as it is a much cheaper option. However it is a bad option as
it is unsustainable, it causes damage to the environment and all of the waste disposed of in
this way is lost. One way in which waste management can affect human health according to
the British Medical Bulletin is that residents who are pregnant who live near landfill sites are
linked to having a child with a lower birth rate than usual. The article says that the low birth
rate trends were found to correspond closely with time and quantities of dumping at a large
hazardous waste disposal site in California. On the same article they also showed how waste
management workers were shown to have an increased incidence of accidents and
musculoskeletal problems.
Water supply is the water which is collected and passed through pipes to buildings for
people to have a clean supply to use. It can affect health and illness because if the water gets
contaminated then it can lead to diseases spreading, an example of this is cholera. In 1854,
John Snow found a link between the people who were getting ill and the place in which they
were getting their water supplies from. To find the link he plotted the cases of cholera on a
map and Snow established that all those falling ill were getting their water from a single
pump. This pump drew its supplies from the River Thames, which was contaminated by
sewage. When the source of cholera was found, John Snow removed the handle of the
Broad street water pump and the infections spreading stopped being as common. This
shows how water supply has had a negative effect on people's health, as so many people in
one area were falling ill because of where they were getting their water from.
Housing is the place in which someone lives, a person may spend the majority of their time
in there for shelter, eating, sleeping. Housing and a person’s health status can be an
indicated to their social class such as if someone is in a more deprived area then they are
more likely to be in a lower social class. The quality of a person’s housing can have on impact
on especially children's health it can affect their respiratory system. For example children
who live in houses with damp are known to have higher rates of asthma and communicable
infections, which can also be more easily transmitted in overcrowded conditions. This isn’t
just because of the moisture in the air but also the microscopic bacteria fungi that thrive in
just such an environment, either floating around in the air or landing on moist surfaces in a
home. According to a website; http://thorax.bmj.com/content/thoraxjnl/52/3/229.full.pdf ,
the UK.
Rural areas are usually ones that are referred to as less densely populated and have more
agricultural characteristics such as open green spaces and farms so are seen as more natural
environments. Rural environments are seen as healthier option for health and well being as
there is fresher air, more space and lower crime rates. Rural areas can however still affect
health in many ways such as isolation, occupational stress, economic crises and unforeseen
events which can contribute to mental health problems. In contrast to this, urban areas are
ones with a high population density and the environment has more infrastructure so are
more associated with towns and cities rather than villages like rural environments. They can
affect health and illness in ways such as lower life expectancies and more deaths from
smoking.
Waste management means the collection, transportation, disposal or recycling and
monitoring of waste. This term is assigned to the material, waste material that is produced
through human being activity. Landfill is a specifically popular option, where nearly 80% of
the 28 million tonnes of waste is disposed each year. It is used as a popular option to dispose
of waste for economic reasons as it is a much cheaper option. However it is a bad option as
it is unsustainable, it causes damage to the environment and all of the waste disposed of in
this way is lost. One way in which waste management can affect human health according to
the British Medical Bulletin is that residents who are pregnant who live near landfill sites are
linked to having a child with a lower birth rate than usual. The article says that the low birth
rate trends were found to correspond closely with time and quantities of dumping at a large
hazardous waste disposal site in California. On the same article they also showed how waste
management workers were shown to have an increased incidence of accidents and
musculoskeletal problems.
Water supply is the water which is collected and passed through pipes to buildings for
people to have a clean supply to use. It can affect health and illness because if the water gets
contaminated then it can lead to diseases spreading, an example of this is cholera. In 1854,
John Snow found a link between the people who were getting ill and the place in which they
were getting their water supplies from. To find the link he plotted the cases of cholera on a
map and Snow established that all those falling ill were getting their water from a single
pump. This pump drew its supplies from the River Thames, which was contaminated by
sewage. When the source of cholera was found, John Snow removed the handle of the
Broad street water pump and the infections spreading stopped being as common. This
shows how water supply has had a negative effect on people's health, as so many people in
one area were falling ill because of where they were getting their water from.
Housing is the place in which someone lives, a person may spend the majority of their time
in there for shelter, eating, sleeping. Housing and a person’s health status can be an
indicated to their social class such as if someone is in a more deprived area then they are
more likely to be in a lower social class. The quality of a person’s housing can have on impact
on especially children's health it can affect their respiratory system. For example children
who live in houses with damp are known to have higher rates of asthma and communicable
infections, which can also be more easily transmitted in overcrowded conditions. This isn’t
just because of the moisture in the air but also the microscopic bacteria fungi that thrive in
just such an environment, either floating around in the air or landing on moist surfaces in a
home. According to a website; http://thorax.bmj.com/content/thoraxjnl/52/3/229.full.pdf ,
