Population Health Test 5 Flashcards
(33 cards)
Current World Population
7.7 billion
carrying capacity
maximum number of species an environment can support indefinitely
overpopulation effects
- inadequate water supply
- depletion of natural resources
- pollution
- deforestation
- high mortality rate
- global warming
- extinction
S curve
environmental pressures increase as the population increases and eventually reaches the carrying capacity (population levels out)
J curve
population expands past the carrying capacity to a place in which the environment can no longer sustain the population in which case the population crashes
* (population outpaced food supply, climate changes, infectious disease, etc.)
Paul Ehrlich
“Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist”
Henry Kendall
“If we do not voluntarily bring population growth under control in the next on or two decades nature will do it for us in the most brutal way, whether we like it or not” (not come true yet)
Public health improvements in developing countries
clean water, immunization, pest contril, inexpensive oral rehydration treatment (decline death rates)
Urbanization
43% of Africa’s population and 50% of Asia’s population live in urban environments (lack adequate drinking water and sewage)
* lack sanitation
immunization campaigns
measles, Diptheria, polio, HIV (Africa)
how many children are orphaned in Africa
15 million (today)
Water
renewable resource (renewed at a fixed rate); 03% of water is usable; contamination through industrial waste; U.S. drought (depletion and overuse)
agricultural
meet demands: advances in wheat and rice genetic strains (increased yields, fertilizer, irrigation, and chemical pesticides)
problems: land degradation; irrigation (high amounts of water); deforestation; increased soil erosion; flooding; loss of wildlife; pests resistance to pesticides; disease in humans (pesticides and fertilization)
ocean
33% of the world’s marine fish stocks are overfished
1/2 of fish eaten raised in fish farms; small fish are depleted for feeding; parasites and microbes
climate change
long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a place
WHO “greatest challenge of the 21st century, threatening human health and development
connected with weather events: hurricanes, floods, downpours, winter storms
climate
occurs over a long period of time whereas weather is the condition of the atmosphere over a short period of time
cause of climate change
human activities (burning fossil fuels, natural gas, oil, and coal
global warming
caused by the greenhouse effect: energy of sunlight is absorbed by carbon dioxide in the air and is turned into heat rather than radiation back out away from earth
Climate change affects (social and environmental)
clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food, and secure shelter
extreme eat
extreme high air temperatures contribute to deaths (cardiovascular and respiratory disease)
- rase levels of ozone and other pollutants
- pollen and other aeroallergen levels increase
Natural Disasters
*60,000 deaths
loss of life, homes, economic security, and illness
- threaten transportation (airports, rail lines, roads, ports, pipelines)
- food supplies (drought and rising temperatures
infection
a water-borne disease, insect diseases, snail or other cold-blooded animals (lengthen transmission seasons and alter range)
children (climate change)
- most vulnerable
* exposed longer to health consequences
elderly (climate change)
- heightened vulnerability to environmental risk
- increased susceptibility to disease
- stress on food and water supply
- reduced mobility (quickly)
