Environmental health

Environmental health is broader than hygiene and sanitation; it encompasses hygiene, sanitation and many other aspects of the environment that are not included in this Module such as global warming, climate change, radiation, gene technology, flooding and natural disasters. It also involves studying the environmental factors that affect health.

The World Health Organization's definition is as follows:

Environmental health addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the related factors impacting behaviours. It encompasses the assessment and control of those environmental factors that can potentially affect health.

Key phrases in this definition are environmental factors and potentially affect health.