Environmental Health Policy and Resource Allocation

Policies set up by environmental regulatory bodies to
shield people from natural, accidental, and intentional threats and hazards in
their homes or surroundings are known as environmental health policies. These
policies are propagated to ensure that people’s health are put into
consideration in taking any action and that they are free from environmental
factors, underlying death and disease as a result of the environment. These
policies are the propagated and enforced by the federal, state and the local
government.

The enforcement and regulation of environmental health
policies are handled by health agencies, in environmental regulatory,
agriculture, transportation, planning, housing, and other agencies, and
requires coordination and collaboration among a variety of governmental
agencies, as well as with the private sector. Public health is protected by
states and territories by showing essential leadership and stewardship to
protect the public’s health and important coordination, planning, and funding
for community environmental public health services; in some states and
territories, health agencies directly deliver environmental public health
services. The environmental threats that state and territorial health agencies
and the broader public health system respond to are many and diverse, and the
risks must be effectively communicated to policymakers and the public. Environmental
health policies, regulation and enforcement involves creating awareness on the
implications of non compliance to environmental health laws through the use of  tools ranging from regulation to health
promotion, including strong public awareness and effective health education
The promulgation and
enforcement of environmental health policies are mainly with the aim toward
regulating the activities of on the environment in order to create a friendly
environment that is conducive to health which obviously can only be realized
through the proper management, suggest alternate method of handling situations
for economic activities which are harmful to man but cannot be avoided for
economic reasons and enhancement of the environment to create an environment that
is free from biological, chemical and physical hazards which may emanate from local,
national and international sources that may be harmful to man and the
environment.
In the real sense, the role
of environmental health policies are mainly structured towards creating and
fostering an environment that is safe to work, recreate and live. To maintain
the overall well-being of the people and making their environment conducive for
inhabitation, create a standard living environment, ensuring strict adherence to
environmental health policies; as this will help in the development and
formulation of comprehensive and sound policy in the sector considering the
health of the people
.
The enforcement of compliance
to environmental health policies are carried out be relevant authorities
through the
state and territorial health agencies by working individually
and cooperatively with other agencies and levels of government to enforce these
policies which include to;
  1. Promote improved health and protect the community
    against hazards associated with the built environment, community design,
    land use, and transportation infrastructure, including indoor and outdoor
    pollutants (i.e., pollutants that are airborne, soil-bound, waterborne, or
    inherent in building materials).
  2. Ensure a safe and nutritious food supply for all
    through prevention of intentional and unintentional contamination.
  3. Ensure safe water for all through prevention and
    minimization of health risks related to source water, drinking water,
    recreational water, wastewater, and water reuse.
  4. Maintain and build crucial environmental public
    health infrastructure and capacity to prepare for, respond to, and
    mitigate the effects of intentional, accidental, and natural events.
  5. Assure the safe use of ionizing radiation and
    radioactive materials for the improvement of public health, welfare, and
    productivity.
  6. Reach and sustain a state of readiness to
    effectively respond to, manage the consequences of, and recover from environmental
    health emergencies.
  7. Provide timely, relevant, and accurate
    information to communities on the environmental public health impacts of
    toxic exposures.
  8. Protect the public against hazards from the
    natural environment, including climate-related health impacts, and
    controlling vectors and organisms that can carry or transmit diseases to
    humans.
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