Environmental Health Monitoring: A Risk Factor Approach Towards Health

Health has always gained importance during a disease outbreak. With rapid urbanization, lifestyle based (noncommunicable) diseases have started taking a toll on the health of developed, developing and under-developed nations. Infectious diseases (vector borne, water borne) are still prevalent in developing and under-developed nations which is one of the main hindrances to enhancement of life expectancies. The recognition of the role of the physical/natural environment on health that led to the elimination of infectious (communicable) diseases in the west, (as early as the 1960s), has failed to make a similar impact on India (which can be considered representative of other rapidly developing nations). Further, due to transition in causes of mortality and extensive research to explore risk factors of non-communicable diseases, the scope of environment, as a health determinant has also expanded with the addition of other community attributes like socioeconomic, cultural, and political environments. This is of significance not only because it goes on to show the complex nature of NCD epidemiology but also because the double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases can seriously challenge a nation’s economic growth and its resources during an outbreak. Thus, this paper aims to establish a rationale for development of an environmental health monitoring system that would monitor risk factors for both communicable and non-communicable diseases.