Abstract
Despite the positive effect of industrialisation on health and quality of life indicators across the globe, it is also responsible for the release of chemical toxins into the environment. Thus, the pursuit of economic development through industrialisation has equally nurtured numerous environmental disasters with accompanying catastrophic health effects. China is one of the countries with high carbon emissions, but new policy changes have resulted in massive gains in controlling environmental damage while enhancing the environment-related quality of life. This paper combines the six-step integrative review strategy with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) strategy to determine appropriate exclusion and inclusion criteria to explore the available stock of literature. We note that overall pollution in China fell by 10% between 2014 and 2019 whereas the average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration of 93 micrograms per cubic meter reduced by 47% by 2019. Beijing exhibited the top 200 most polluted cities in 2019 after recording the lowest PM2.5 ever. All cities that implemented the 2012 Environmental Air Quality Standards reduced the average concentration of PM2.5 and sulfur dioxide by 42–68% by the end of 2018. Improvements in freshwater quality and a decline in water pollution levels were recorded despite increases in economic growth, urbanisation, energy use, trade openness, and agriculture, all of which are major stimulants of pollution. Deterring environmental tariff, tight ecological inspections, closing down of non-compliant producers, heavy investment in environmental control, and the ambitious five year-plan to revitalise renewable energy goals emanating from China’s ecological civilisation masterplan are responsible for these improvements in air and water pollution. China needs to work more aggressively to consolidate the gains already made in order to quicken the actualisation of the ecological civilisation and beautiful China dream.
Highlights
The environmental health crisis has become a common theme in several national and international advocacy and policy interventions since the early 1960s
The result shows that 16 of the articles were focused on air pollution alone whereas 22 of them focused on water pollution
The environmental healthcare implications of the persistence and improvement to environmental pollution were of significant interest in this research
Summary
The environmental health crisis has become a common theme in several national and international advocacy and policy interventions since the early 1960s. According to Liang and Yang [1], the impact of environmental pollution is significant and multifaceted. It includes damage to human health, social conflicts, and economic losses. Apart from the indirect effect of carbon emissions on overall human health, certain forms of environmental exploitation are directly linked to myriad environmental health crisis that affect populations exposed to them [2]. Drywalls are produced at predominantly lower prices in China relative to other parts of the world, but drywalls emit high levels of sulphur gas which corrodes electrical wiring. If human beings are exposed to excessive amounts of these substances, it can lead to acute breathing problems, headaches and bloody nose for the occupants of the building [3]. In a study by Tan, et al [4], they explain that phthalates
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