Reference no: EM133755823

Health in an Era of Environmental Change

you will be required to explore HOW HUMAN HEALTH MAY BE DIRECTLY AND/OR INDIRECTLY AFFECTED BY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING ENVIRONMENTAL PROCESSES:

anthropogenic changes to climatic systems

anthropogenic changes to water systems / water quality (especially any direct or indirect anthropogenic changes to the water "cycle" and its implications for water quality and/or quantity and/or security)

anthropogenic changes to atmospheric systems/ air quality

modern food production

the process of urbanisation

There may be overlaps between these topics and they are of course not completely isolated from each other. However, your primary focus should be on only one of the topics.

You must ensure that the studies or reports that you select or discuss relate to some direct, indirect, potential, predicted and/or modelled human health effects/outcomes.

When choosing the major assignment topic for this Unit, you can narrow it down to some major aspect of the environmental issue. You do not need to cover every aspect of the wider theme. For example, if you would like to explore the health impacts from the process of urbanisation, you could say just look at urban traffic/transport issues or the effect of greenspace in cities (so long as the human health connections are fully considered).

Introduce your chosen topic, provide any necessary definitions of concepts and terms, and explain WHY the environmental health/planetary health topic you have selected is relevant to human health. Your analysis should include a general overview of both the environmental issue and its actual or potential health consequences/ impacts.

Find TWO population-based studies from LOW- or MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES and TWO population- based studies from HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES ("Developed economies")* showing how this particular environmental health/planetary health issue can have direct or indirect impacts on human health. The selected publications or reports must have been published after the year 2010.

Use all of these selected population-based studies to:

Provide an integrated summary of the key study findings/conclusions relating to this particular environmental health/planetary health issue.
Explain which particular health outcomes were assessed, how they were measured, and why they were selected.
Highlight significant findings/data of particular relevance to your overall analysis.

Compare the environment and health issues identified and their impacts in the high-income countries versus the low/medium-income countries.

Assess whether the interpretation and conclusions presented in these studies appeared to be justified and valid based on the evidence presented (e.g. there may be aspects of the discussion/conclusions that do not logically follow from the provided results, or issues with the chosen study design, or significant study biases).

For the selected publications in Component 2, prepare a summary table. This should include separate columns for the lead author, year, study design, country/countries in which the study conducted, a brief description of the study population (including number of participants and/or size of study populations and/or number of study centres), and the main findings of significance in a brief and easy-to- read format. You may use landscape format/orientation for this page.

Find TWO publications or reports that focus on policy aspects or implications of your chosen environmental health/planetary health issue (in any country or region) and summarise the key findings/conclusions with their practical applications.

Assume that you are intending to design a community-based program that will help address the environmental health/planetary health issue that you have identified.

Identify TWO or more significant findings or conclusions from the publications from Components 1 - 4 above that might be potentially useful or relevant to planning for or designing your program.

Explain in practical terms how such information could be applied.

If appropriate, discuss why these findings are relevant in the Australian context (or in the context of your own country of residence).