PUBLIC HEALTH

Public health is about helping people to lead healthy lives and protecting them from any issues that may be a threat to their health. It mostly has three components or duties mainly: health protection, health improvement, and public healthcare health. Air pollution is a threat to public health. Penelope Jagessar Chaffe states that human newborns are some of the most polluted species in the universe. They become depositories of toxic waste even before they are born. Studies conducted in the United States found that 287 chemicals found in the umbilical code, 180 of which cause cancer in animals or humans. Toxics that find their way into the body has a way of affecting how the body works. To babies, this PVC affect how hormones, control the genes in the babies leading to babies being born with conditions that require extra care or genetic mutations leading to being born with deformities. Plastics are the primary cause of the toxic substances that are deposited into the environment. Minimizing the use of plastics and PVC materials reduces the risks of this toxic chemicals getting into the body through breathing or drinking water.

According to Romain Lacombe, air pollution is the largest preventable hazard to human health yet people rarely talk about such issues. He states that more than 7 million people die from breathing polluted air each year globally which is more than the number of people that die from smoking cigarettes. Urbanization is one of the causes of pollution as 50% of the world’s population live in cities meaning there is pollution from vehicles and other means of transport together with transport. Cities can also help improve health by engaging people into sharing of their ideas and knowledge. Romain Lacombe states that digital democracy can aide in the minimization of global air pollution pandemic. This can be done by the governments sharing their data or knowledge which may lead to innovation and coming up with ideas that help limit air pollution.