Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, 5-Volumes Set [ISBN : 9780444522733] [Copyright Year : 2011]

Environmental health has evolved over time into a complex, multidisciplinary field. Many of the key determinants and solutions to environmental health problems lie outside the direct realm of health and are strongly dependent on environmental changes, water and sanitation, industrial development, education, employment, trade, tourism, agriculture, urbanization, energy, housing and national security. Environmental risks, vulnerability and variability manifest themselves in different ways and at different time scales. While there are shared global and transnational problems, each community, country or region faces its own unique environmental health problems, the solution of which depends on circumstances surrounding the resources, customs, institutions, values and environmental vulnerability. This work contains critical reviews and assessments of environmental health practices and research that have worked in places and thus can guide programs and economic development in other countries or regions. The Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, Five Volume Set seeks to conceptualize the subject more clearly, to describe the best available scientific methods that can be used in characterizing and managing environmental health risks, to extend the field of environmental health through new theoretical perspectives and heightened appreciation of social, economic and political contexts, and to encourage a richer analysis in the field through examples of diverse experiences in dealing with the health-environment interface. The Encyclopedia of Environmental Health contains numerous examples of policy options and environmental health practices that have worked and thus can guide programs in other countries or regions It includes a wide range of tools and strategies that can assist communities and countries in assessing environmental health conditions, monitoring progress of intervention implementation and evaluating outcomes Provides a comprehensive overview of existing knowledge in this emerging field Articles contain summaries and assessments of environmental health practices and research, providing a framework for further research Places environmental health in the broader context of environmental change and related ecological, political, economic, social, and cultural issues

Environmental health has evolved over time into a complex, multidisciplinary field. Many of the key determinants and solutions to environmental health problems lie outside the direct realm of health and are strongly dependent on environmental changes, water and sanitation, industrial development, education, employment, trade, tourism, agriculture, urbanization, energy, housing and national security. Environmental risks, vulnerability and variability manifest themselves in different ways and at different time scales. While there are shared global and transnational problems, each community, country or region faces its own unique environmental health problems, the solution of which depends on circumstances surrounding the resources, customs, institutions, values and environmental vulnerability. This work contains critical reviews and assessments of environmental health practices and research that have worked in places and thus can guide programs and economic development in other countries or regions.

The Encyclopedia of Environmental Health seeks to conceptualize the subject more clearly, to describe the best available scientific methods that can be used in characterizing and managing environmental health risks, to extend the field of environmental health through new theoretical perspectives and heightened appreciation of social, economic and political contexts, and to encourage a richer analysis in the field through examples of diverse experiences in dealing with the health-environment interface.

The Encyclopedia of Environmental Health contains numerous examples of policy options and environmental health practices that have worked and thus can guide programs in other countries or regions. It includes a wide range of tools and strategies that can assist communities and countries in assessing environmental health conditions, monitoring progress of intervention implementation and evaluating outcomes.

Key Features: *Provides a comprehensive overview of existing knowledge in this emerging field *Articles contain summaries and assessments of environmental health practices and research, providing a framework for further research *Places environmental health in the broader context of environmental change and related ecological, political, economic, social, and cultural issues

Ghana is ranked 135th, out of 177 countries, in the United Nations Development Program's 2007-08 human development index. Malnutrition is high in children under 5 years of age, with 30% stunted in growth. Infant mortality is 64 deaths per 1000 live births. Life expectancy is 57 years. The health status of individuals, groups, and regions in this country is inextricably linked to its development situation, which conditions the biophysical environment and society relations that produce disease ecologies. Malaria, which accounts for over 40% of annual morbidity in Ghana, is an outcome of poor sanitation ecologies. Most of the top 15 reported diseases are diseases of poor sanitation, unsafe drinking water, and polluted outdoor and indoor environments. Promoting health gains in Ghana requires a rigorous and comprehensive explanation of environmental health. This article employs an approach described as environmental health political ecology to explain the health status of Ghana. Its primary thesis is that the ecological characteristics of the biophysical environment (and its objects including pathogens and chemicals) and human society (and its politics of differences in access and control over resources) impinge on each other through networks of relations in produced environments that condition health hazards. The idea of produced environments is based on the notion that stagnant water bodies, poor drinking water quality, poor sanitation, toxic dumps, and polluted air are products of sets of relationships between the biophysical environment and humans. The discussion focuses on the different produced ecologies of health risks in Ghana, the differences in individual, group, and regional vulnerabilities to the health hazards of produced environments arising from the politics of differences in exposures to health risks, and differences in the abilities to manage and control risks