Winthrop biology student explains the importance of the new emerging field ecohealth
Ecohealth is a field of study that researches how the changes in the earth’s ecosystem can affect human health. Ecohealth is an interdisciplinary field in that it studies the changes in the biological, physical, social and economic environment and how it relates to the health of humans.
Biology student Michelle York decided to do her final presentation in her BIOL 480 class on ecohealth because she believes it is a field in science that often doesn’t get discussed.
“I decided on ecohealth for my final project in Bio 480 because it’s a topic that gets little coverage, has a large impact on humanity and is a highly interdisciplinary field. In a basic sense ecohealth is just an attempt to link human health, animal health and the health of the environment,” said York.
York stresses the importance of ecohealth because having an unhealthy environment can lead to diseases among people. Unhealthy environments can also lead to everyday health issues such as asthma and respiratory issues from abundant pollution.
“There is a high economic and public health burden of spillover events that often have global implications. Zoonotic spillover events are a common example. Land use changes and human behavior alter natural disease pathways due to their high host plasticity (ability to jump hosts). Recent spillover events include the nipah virus and the Ebola virus,” said York.
Other viruses that have been found to be from changes in the ecosystem are SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) which was first reported in Asia in 2003, the bird flu which was first reported between Dec. 2003 and Jan. 2004, and the hantavirus which was first discovered in 1993.
People involved in ecohealth research work globally to help keep ecosystems clean and safe to keep surrounding communities healthy. Environmental health overall is a subject that has gotten more attention in the past decade. There are many different aspects of environmental health, all of which researcher in the ecohealth sector look at. These aspects include outdoor air quality, surface and ground water quality, toxic substances, and infrastructure.
“Maintaining a healthy environment is central to increasing quality of life and years of healthy life. Globally, 23% of all deaths and 26% of deaths among children under age 5 are due to preventable environmental factors. Environmental factors are diverse and far reaching,” said a report from the Office of Disease and prevention.
Ecohealth draws from many different disciplines. Ecohealth shows how different aspects of society affect each other. For example, when a person gets sick from environmental issues that affects a communities health it can turn into a public health need which greatly influences a community’s economy. This is why ecohealth brings in physicians, ecologists, economists, social scientists, and city planners to be able to work together to meet the needs of a society. So far ecohealth has had great success in implementing programs to educate about environmental health and working directly with communities on improving their environmental standards. Ecohealth is only becoming a more popular field with time and is helping save lives.
“I think it’s [ecohealth] important because it’s a field and concern that impacts the well-being of all of humanity. I hope that this topic will encourage people to think about their patterns of consumption and the interconnectedness between public health and environmental health,” said York.
