The occurrence of a type of pollution entails the disturbance of the natural balance in other parts of the ecosystem, affecting all human beings, since pollution does not know national and regional borders, nor racial, gender, and class differences. Despite the availability of a large amount of data and information, we are often not sufficiently aware of the exposure to environmental hazards, or we are unable to measure the concentration of pollutants in real time, nor to evaluate their final health effects.
However, if EcoHealth is viewed as the overall result of evolution, the relationship of previous generations to the environment, current population health is also subject to change. It is necessary to work on the development of people’s awareness that any positive change in our daily activities contributes to the improvement of the situation and that after decades of permanent irresponsible behaviour towards nature and environment in which we live, we need time for the efforts invested to become visible.
In order to combat environmental impact, urban communities should be equipped with the necessary financial, scientific and technical means for anticipating, preventing and mitigating environmental impacts on human health. Creating conditions that favour EcoHealth is multisectoral responsibility. The community, as a primary public health actor, should take the lead in establishing partnerships between institutions such as the Public Health Institute and Environmental Protection Agency, the civil sector, and be the leading promoter of EcoHealth among the population, as it is a key criterion of sustainable development.
According to estimates, between 6 and 9 percent of municipal solid waste is recycled, and the composition of the waste deposited in landfills is diversified, which additionally increases its impacts on health and the environment.
Waste of organic origin makes the substances prone to decomposition and decay − which generates waste gases (hydrogen sulphide, methane, and mercaptans), recognizable by their characteristic scents spreading from bins and containers. In this fraction of waste can be found causes of tuberculosis, hepatitis, typhus, paratyphoid and dysentery, staphylococci, streptococci and many other germs, as well as bacteria that persist in the garbage for a long time, because they are favourable to the poor base environment created by mixing with ash from the replace.
Inorganic components of municipal as well as industrial waste can contain various toxic substances (heavy metals, pesticides, phenols, dioxins, etc.), which easily reach the soil and watercourses.
In populated areas without an adequately established waste management system, intestinal infections, infectious diseases, and parasites are more frequent. Garbage is the ideal environment for the reproduction of insects and rodents, carriers and agents of animal diseases, which are used in human nutrition.
Although medical waste accounts for about 20 percent of the total generated waste, due to the cause of infectious diseases and toxic substances it can contain, as well as resistant microorganisms, the importance of proper waste treatment is rapidly increasing. This waste can cause poisoning and lead to a series of injuries in people who come into contact with it in any way.
Since the Republic of Serbia does not have any nuclear power plant, radioactivity is somewhat less considered as a factor of environmental pollution. But nuclear waste can transmit radioactivity up to 250 years after disposal, and take into account that there is not one designated landfill in Serbia, it is assumed that certain quantities of radioactive waste are inadequately disposed of. Radioactivity as a result of NATO bombing is a topic of numerous research in our country. In the wider public, the relationship between radioactivity and cancer is of great interest, because our country is at an insane second place in Europe in the number of malignant diseases.
Although this pollutant is often neglected, the impact of noise in urban areas is increasing. Its most common contaminants are traffic and industry, and it affects psychophysical health by causing nervousness, fatigue, insomnia and hearing impairment. Throughout Europe, prohibition of the broadcasting of loud music in the bars is being introduced, as well as sound isolation along the roads passing through settlements, and this practice is slowly being established in our country.
Marija Nešović
This content was originally published in the eighth issue of the Energy Portal Magazine ECOHEALTH, in November 2017.
