Components of environmental health
Table 1.1 describes the areas of environmental health and hygiene that will be of importance to you as a healthworker and that you will learn about in the rest of this Module.
Table 1.1 Components of hygiene and environmental health.
| Description | Concerns |
|---|---|
| Personal hygiene | Hygiene of body and clothing |
| Water supply | Adequacy, safety (chemical, bacteriological, physical) of water for domestic, drinking and recreational use |
| Human waste disposal | Proper excreta disposal and liquid waste management |
| Solid waste management | Proper application of storage, collection, disposal of waste. Waste production and recycling |
| Vector control | Control of mammals (such as rats) and arthropods (insects such as flies and other creatures such as mites) that transmit disease |
| Food hygiene | Food safety and wholesomeness in its production, storage, preparation, distribution and sale, until consumption |
| Healthful housing | Physiological needs, protection against disease and accidents, psychological and social comforts in residential and recreational areas |
| Institutional hygiene | Communal hygiene in schools, prisons, health facilities, refugee camps, detention homes and settlement areas |
| Water pollution | Sources, characteristics, impact and mitigation |
| Occupational hygiene | Hygiene and safety in the workplace |
Figure 1.1 illustrates the various aspects of hygiene and environmental health that are described in Table 1.1. Look at the separate drawings within the figure and match each of them to one of the descriptions.
Starting at top right, the drawing there illustrates solid waste disposal in a pit. Below that is a woman cooking at a stove to show food hygiene in a cooking area. The handpump illustrates water supply. Personal hygiene is represented by the person washing themselves. The next drawing shows a storage cupboard, again illustrating food hygiene. The drawing at top left is a pit latrine to represent human waste disposal. The central drawing illustrates healthful housing. (Vector control, institutional hygiene, occupational hygiene and water pollution are not shown.)