Environmental Health Awareness Research Articles

Physicochemical attributes and bacteriome diversity of Lake Tunari, Taraba State, Nigeria

Physicochemical parameters of aquatic habitats can play an influential part in shaping the microbial communities of water bodies. In this study, water samples from Lake Tunari were analysed for its microbiome and physicochemical attributes, using spectrophotometric and culture-dependent methodologies respectively. The temperature of the lake ranged from 28.00 – 29.00 (°C), while the pH ranged from 6.50 – 7.20. Heavy metals such as Manganese (0.48 ppm), Lead (0.14 ppm) and Selenium (0.10 ppm) showed significantly high values in selected parts of the lake, surpassing limits set by the World Health Organisation. Microbiome analysis revealed the largest phylum across sample sites as Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Planctomycetota with peak relative abundance values of 64.13%, 45.29% and 16.11% respectively. Bacterial genera such as Exiguobacterium, Methylocystis and Rhodoferax were detected from designated sites. The presence of these genera capable of tolerating, utilizing or degrading metal ions in water samples of the Lake might be indicative of chemical and metal trickles into the water body. In addition, relatively new and understudied bacterial phyla such as Gemmatimonadota, as well as unknown bacterial clades were identified from water samples of the lake. This study has revealed that Lake Tunari is not impervious to pollution, caused by either anthropogenic activities or from adjoining water channels. Environmental health awareness programs can be introduced to enlighten the populace, while scheduled microbial and physicochemical surveillance can be adopted, to control microbial contamination and curtail toxic material inflow into the Lake.

Analisis Pelaksanaan Program Aplikasi Kepul (Jual Beli Sampah) dalam Upaya Meningkatkan Kesadaran Masyarakat terhadap Kesehatan Lingkungan Helvetia Kecamatan Sunggal Kabupaten Deli Serdang

The garbage problem is caused by several factors, one of which is the low awareness and concern of the community towards garbage. The Kepul application is a new breakthrough and innovation that serves as a platform to encourage the community to be more concerned about the health and cleanliness of the environment through the optimization of buying and selling recyclable waste through the Kepul application. The purpose of this research is to determine the success of the Kepul application program in increasing public awareness of environmental health. The method used in this research is a qualitative approach with descriptive methods and a case study research design, as well as data collection techniques including in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. The research results obtained show the realization of environmental cleanliness and health and the ability to increase public awareness through the Kepul application program, and can change the community's mindset towards waste. It can be concluded that the Kepul implementation team has successfully encouraged the community to be more concerned about environmental health and cleanliness through the Kepul application in an effort to increase public awareness of environmental health.

Evaluation of characteristics on the indoor dwelling environments of traditional villages in Hehuang area of China based on basic environmental parameters under remote sensing technology

In Chinese northwestern rural households where the indoor air quality is worse than the outside, rural residents face much higher health risks than urban residents. In this study, remote physical sensor devices and detectors technology were used to monitor and calculate the dwelling environmental quality index of 12 dwellings of traditional villages in the Hehuang area of China based on four environmental parameters to assess the indoor air quality of local dwellings. The results show that (1) the DEQI value reached 76 in summer but only 50 in winter, and the indoor dwelling environment quality in the Hehuang area was better in summer than in winter. (2) The ST was only 34 in summer and even lower in winter, at only 10, and low indoor temperatures were a chronic problem for the indoor dwelling spaces throughout the year. (3) In both summer and winter, the SRH reached 86, which was satisfactory overall. (4) In summer, the SCO2 value was 89 and the SPM10 value was 96, reflecting relatively good overall conditions. In winter, the SCO2 value was 65, the concentrations generally increased, and the SPM10 value was equal to 40, with concentrations exceeding the national standard value more than half the time. This study enables local governments and residents to accurately evaluate and analysis existing indoor dwelling environment problems based on this remote sensing technology, enhance the environmental health awareness of local residents, and provide an objective basis for improving the local dwelling environment and developing relevant policies.

Children’s Environmental Health Awareness

Abstract not available
 BANGLADESH J CHILD HEALTH 2022; VOL 46 (1) : 1-2

An Examination of School Environmental Health Awareness, Attitudes, and Practices of Nigerian Secondary School Students

Schools are fundamental to the promotion of sound behaviour practices. However, Nigerian secondary offer limited environmental health awareness for attitude practices in student learning. This study described Nigerian secondary school students’ school environmental health awareness, attitude and practices. A 34-item instrument was administered to 1000 students out of which 867 were returned, representing 86.7 % response rate. Data were analysed using simple percent, mean, t-test, and analysis of variance. The results indicated that students possessed rather moderate/average levels of school environmental health, and equally positive attitudes and practice of school environmental health. Results of T-test revealed that there was significant difference between male and female students in awareness and practice of school environmental health while, no significant difference was observed in their attitudes. Similarly, no significance difference was observed in awareness, attitudes and practice according to age, school ownership, class and school location. ANOVA results showed significant differences in awareness and attitudes of students of mixed schools and boys only schools. The results suggested the need for multi-sectorial actions to gear up effort towards preparing teachers for educating students and other stakeholders in the school system for environmental sustainability.Keywords: School environmental health, awareness, attitude, practice.

Fuel adoption in rural heating: a field study on northern China

PurposePromoting clean heating in rural areas is crucial for achieving a low-carbon transition of energy consumption and China's dual-carbon target. The study aims to consider the energy stacking behavior in heating energy use, reveals the determinants that affect household cleaner heating choices under the winter clean heating plan (WCHP), and proposes policy recommendations for the sustainable promotion of clean heating.Design/methodology/approachWith unique rural household survey data covering the clean heating pilot regions in northern China in 2020, this study estimates the relationship between driving factors and heating energy choices through binary and multivariate probit models.FindingsThe regression estimates show that the main drivers of heating energy choices include household income per capita, education level of household head, knowledge of the WCHP, access to heating subsidies and perception of indoor air pollution. There is energy stacking behavior in rural household heating energy use. Household decisions to adopt electricity or clean coal heating are correlated with firewood or soft coal use.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few to investigate the heating energy use of rural households by allowing for the adoption of multiple energy types. Combined with a unique microsurvey dataset, it could provide rich information for formulating proper energy transition planning. The findings also shed light on the importance of heating subsidies, households' knowledge of WCHP and awareness of environmental health in choosing clean heating energy, which has not been fully valued in related research.

Analisis Pelaksanaan Program Aplikasi Kepul (Jual Beli SaAnalisis Pelaksanaan Program Aplikasi Kepul (Jual Beli Sampah) Dalam Upaya Meningkatkan Kesadaran Masyarakat terhadap Kesehatan Lingkungan Helvetia Kecamatan Sunggal Kabupaten Deli Serdang

The waste problem is caused by several factors, one of which is the low awareness and concern of the community about waste. The Kepul application is a new breakthrough and innovation that exists as a forum to invite people to care more about health and environmental hygiene through optimizing the buying and selling of waste that can be recycled through the Kepul application. The purpose of this study was to find out the success of the kepul application program in increasing public awareness of environmental health. The method used in this research is to use a qualitative approach with descriptive methods and case study research designs and data collection techniques used are in-depth interviews, observation and documentation. The research results obtained are the realization of environmental hygiene and health and being able to increase public awareness through the kepul application program and being able to change people's mindset towards waste. It can be concluded that the kepul implementation team has succeeded in inviting the public to care more about the health and cleanliness of the environment through the kepul application in an effort to increase public awareness of environmental health.
 Keywords: Awareness, Environment, Health, Kepul, Garbage

Integrating Logis Regression and XGBoost to Construct Indoor Air Quality Improvement Research

In the face of the severe global epidemic, indoor architectural space has become one of the critical issues, and the construction of a new type of “built environment” while solving “health and epidemic prevention” has become the goal of active development in countries around the world (SDGs & Pandemic Response); Pollutant concentration, optimization of indoor heat and humidity environment, and release of indoor environmental monitoring data, etc. It can not only protect the short-term needs of building users but also provide long-term health protection for building users and ultimately achieve the purpose of physical and mental health of building users. This study uses GIA-K007-12 Air Box to collect “environmental characteristics” variables; IAQ, PM1, PM2.5, PM10, CO2, TVOC, HCHO, Fungi index, TEMP, and HUMD are input variables for XGBOOST, using IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0 performs statistical analysis, modelling and using PYTHON to simulate the accuracy of the building fresh air system model and the decision ranking of essential factors. The test results are based on the XGBOOST decision tree. The accuracy value reaches 94.24%, and the order of critical environmental factors for the indoor fresh air system is PM1, HCHO, IAQ, Fungi index, TVOC, etc. The research results can provide the basis for constructing a teaching space for epidemic prevention and demonstrate that the establishment of an “air quality control platform that can be calculated in real-time” can improve the environmental health awareness (EHL) of stakeholders and provide for future development of epidemic prevention space planning and design in the post-epidemic era Reference and application of operation management.

Assessment of non-neonicotinoid treatments against aphids on sugar beets

Aphids can cause significant damage to sugar beet crops. Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hempitera: Aphididae), also called green peach aphid, is responsible for transmitting yellows (i.e., beet yellows virus, beet mild yellowing virus, beet chlorosis virus, and beet mosaic virus) to sugar beet (Beta vulgaris Linné) that can substantially decrease crop yields and cause significant economic losses.In a context of increasing awareness of environmental health, products containing neonicotinoids were recently banned in several countries, making it necessary to identify new effective means of aphid control. Our study aims to assess the effectiveness of six non-neonicotinoid conventional synthetic insecticides and five biopesticides in reducing the number of aphids on sugar beets. We used data from 35 trials (site-years) managed over five years (from 2018 to 2022) located in France's main sugar beet-producing regions. We fitted a mixed-effect model able to take the variability of treatment effect across site-years into account. The most effective conventional synthetic insecticides were spirotetramat and flonicamid, with a reduction in aphid numbers (compared to the untreated control) of up to 85.6% [95% confidence interval = (80.5; 89.4)] and 79.9% [95% confidence interval = (72.9; 85.2)], respectively, 14 days after their applications at registered rates when combined with oil-based adjuvant. Biopesticides were much less effective, with the best biopesticide (Lecanicillium muscarium R. Zare & W. Gams Ve6) leading to only 40.7% [95% confidence interval = (16.6; 57.9)] reduction in aphid numbers, 14 days after its application, with great uncertainty due to the limited number of trials available for this product. Our results reveal that the most effective alternative treatments to neonicotinoids could reduce aphid abundance by more than 70% in most cases.

Shared Purpose: Leveraging a Community-Academic Partnership to Increase Local Environmental Health Awareness via Community Science.

Environmental factors can lead to disease and health disparities when the places where people live, learn, work, play and pray are burdened by social inequities. Non-formal programs that explicitly connect local environmental exposures and human health could be of great value to communities at greatest risk. The purpose of this work was to co-create relevant and engaging education with youth and community stakeholders of all ages that more explicitly emphasizes the link between the local environment and community members' health through a hands-on community science experience. Our experiences helped strengthen our community-academic partnership and establish a route to create and tailor informal programming to meet local needs and engage people in community science with academic partners. We generated two distinctly different community science neighborhood audit tools designed to differently engage our community partners and inform community participants of their local environments and its role on their health. Through community meetings, we garnered critical insight from our stakeholders. While neither of the tools and accompanying data collected were deemed to be scientifically generalizable, our ongoing and future work has benefited from important lessons learned from their creation and sharing.

Environmental health perception by Brussels inhabitants: comparison between a top-down raising awareness and citizen science

Abstract The effects of the environment on health are well documented and prove to be a real public health problem. It is therefore essential to raise public awareness of these issues to induce preventive and protective behaviours. We focused on two methods: passive information transmission (top-down approach) and citizen science (bottom-up approach). The study aims to compare both approaches while raising awareness among Brussels citizens. We created two groups: a traditional awareness group, receiving infographics by email, and a citizen science group, carrying out immersive activities with researchers. All enrolled participants filled out a questionnaire before and after. The “top-down” group (n = 137) received 3 infographics. The citizen science participants deep-dived into the environmental health body of knowledge, carried out individual measurements of air quality and noise pollution along a city walk and analysed, together, the results in groups to design actions. The citizen science sessions were finalised by a focus group. All sessions enjoyed and developed knowledge and awareness of environmental health. Accompanying citizens in developing knowledge was beneficial and required for environmental health empowerment. It showed the added value of citizen science in raising curiosity, creativity, and capacity building. The participants showed different socioeconomic statuses and demonstrated an appetite for understanding the exposures measured during the walks. Our results integrate several SDGs among those SDG4 and SDG3, since by raising awareness of participants, we enabled them to improve their capacities in becoming actors in their health. The risk of developing health problems related to the environment is higher in lower socio-economic groups, due to a greater vulnerability and the inequitable environment distribution between neighbourhoods. Pro-environmental behaviour fosters reduced exposure for now and future generations.

Quality of Chinese government environmental health information disclosure during COVID-19 pandemic: Satisfaction survey on University students.

Government played a vital role during the COVID-19 pandemic by disclosing related environmental health information to the public. A satisfaction survey is often used to evaluate the public's satisfaction of the government's information disclosure while reflecting problems in the current disclosure system. As University students generally have better cognitive skills, they efficiently received related information during the pandemic, and therefore 717 questionnaires completed by University students were selected for this study. During the pandemic, the quality of the government's environmental health information disclosure system ranked at 13.89, marginally higher than average. Moreover, the timeliness and content adequacy of the disclosure system ranked at a level slightly above average. By adopting Hayes PROCESS Model 4 and 8, this study found that there is a direct impact of environmental health knowledge and environmental health awareness on satisfaction. Furthermore, University students' environmental health knowledge and awareness enhanced satisfaction through the mediating effect of self-reported environmental behavior. Finally, this study attempted to discover the conditions under which environmental health knowledge and awareness would have a greater direct and indirect influence on satisfaction, that is, the reverse moderating effect of household income level. In addition, this paper offers policy recommendations to enhance quality of government environmental health information disclosure system.

Effect of Pro-Environmental Prenatal Education Program on Pregnant Women's Environmental Health Awareness and Behaviors based on the Protection Motivation Theory.

This study aimed to verify whether a pro-environmental prenatal education program has an effect on pregnant women’s environmental health awareness and behaviors in Korea. This quasi-experimental study employed a nonequivalent control group and nonsynchronized design based on the protection motivation theory as a theoretical framework. In total, 96 pregnant women had their data collected and analyzed in Korea (40 in the experimental group; and 56 in the control group). Data collection through self-reported questionnaire was conducted between September 2017 and August 2018. The program consisted of lectures and group activities aimed at educating participants on environmental awareness and behaviors. The data were analyzed using t-test, chi square test, and ANCOVA using SPSS 24.0 program. After the intervention, the experimental group showed significantly higher sensitivity (54.78 ± 9.47 and 49.75 ± 5.42; F = 15.13, P < .001), susceptibility (26.30 ± 5.18 and 24.28 ± 4.53; F = 53.94, P < .001), response efficacy (27.40 ± 3.40 and 25.18 ± 4.23; F = 39.42, P < .001), self-efficacy (22.43 ± 4.15 and 21.35 ± 4.25; F = 41.13, P < .001), individual environmental behavior (58.59 ± 12.25 and 51.93 ± 12.64; F = 172.75, P < .001), and communal environmental behavior (18.45 ± 9.68 and 13.13 ± 8.24; F = 126.26, P < .001) than the control group. The developed pro-environmental prenatal education program contained content on the environment and pregnancy, environmental toxin, effects of endocrine disruptors, airborne pollutants, water pollutant, soil pollutant, radio-electronic exposure, and pro-environmental health behaviors during pregnancy. Pregnant women who participated in the pro-environmental prenatal education program had positive changes in environmental health perceptions and behaviors. As environmental hazards continue to increase, pregnant women should receive effective motivational education on eco-environmental protection to increase their sensitivity to environmental risk factors and to encourage active environmental health behaviors.

Strategi Pembentukan Kaderisasi Relawan Sadar Lingkungan Berbasis Technopreneurship

Abstract Purpose: This PKM aims to raise public awareness of environmental health and generate profits by utilizing household waste which has the potential as a source of technopreneurship-based creative economy which can be a strategy in suppressing waste production in Indonesia. Research Methodology: The method used in this PKM is in the form of outreach activities, counseling, training, and assistance in waste management and maggot caterpillar cultivation. Results: The result of this activity is the formation of environmentally conscious volunteers who can manage waste and cultivate maggot caterpillars in an organized, creative, and innovative manner using digital technology in their marketing Conclusions: The conclusion from the implementation of this activity is that there is a change in community behavior in managing household waste into something that is worth selling. The cadre of environmentally conscious volunteers is a community engaged in waste entrepreneurship as an effort to create an education center for waste management.

Distribution Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment of Metal Elements in Groundwater of Longzici Spring Area

Longzici Spring is an important water source for industry, agriculture, and urban life in Linfen City. With the improvements in public environmental health awareness, it is particularly necessary to study the health risk of posed by metal elements in groundwater. In this study, 43 groundwater samples from Longzici Spring area were analyzed for ten metal elements (As, Cd, Hg, Al, Pb, Co, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Ni). The distribution and health risk of these metal elements in the groundwater were studied using multivariate statistical analysis and a health risk assessment model. The results show that metal elements can be ranked, from high to low, by their average concentrations in groundwater in the following order: Fe, Al, Mn, Ni, As, Cu, Co, Pb, Hg, and Cd. The concentration of Al, Mn, Fe, and As exceed the limit for class Ⅲ water, as defined in the quality standard for groundwater (GB/T 14848-2017). Different types of groundwater in the spring area showed different metal contents. The quality of karst spring water was good, reaching the standard for drinking water, while mine drainage water exceeded the standard for drinking water, with the highest metal concentration (60%) and the worst water quality. Multivariate statistical results show that Pb, Ni, Co, Cd, Mn, and Cu concentrations were mainly affected by the geochemical background, while Al, Fe, Hg, and As concentrations were closely related to human mining activities under the unique geological background of Shanxi Province. The health risk assessment showed that the different types of groundwater could be ranked by the annual total health risks, posed by metal elements to adults and children through drinking water and skin infiltration, as follows: karst well > non-karst spring > non-karst well > karst spring. The health risks mainly came from drinking water, while health risks through skin infiltration would not cause obvious harm to the human body. The metal element causing the greatest health risk in spring groundwater was As, which should therefore be controlled in the utilization of water resources, especially in children's drinking water.

Development and validation of women's environmental health scales in Korea: severity, susceptibility, response efficacy, self-efficacy, benefit, barrier, personal health behavior, and community health behavior scales.

PurposeThis study aimed to develop the following scales on women’s environmental health and to examine their validity and reliability: severity, susceptibility, response efficacy, self-efficacy, benefit, barrier, personal health behavior, and community health behavior scales.MethodsThe item pool was generated based on related scales, a wide literature review, and in-depth interviews on women’s environmental health according to the revised Rogers’ protection motivation theory model. Content validity was verified by three nursing professionals. Exploratory factor analysis, convergent validity, and internal consistency reliability were examined.ResultsThe scales included 10 items on severity, 11 on susceptibility, 10 on response efficacy, 14 on self-efficacy, 8 on benefits, 10 on barriers, 17 on personal health behavior, and 16 on community health behavior. Convergent validity with the environmental behavior scale for female adolescents was supported. The Cronbach’s α values for internal consistency were good for all scales: severity, .84; susceptibility, .92; response efficacy, .88; self-efficacy, .90; benefits, .91; barriers, .85; personal health behavior, .90; and community health behavior, .91.ConclusionThe evaluation of the psychometric properties shows that these scales are valid and reliable measures of women’s environmental health awareness and behaviors. These scales may be helpful for assessing women’s environmental health behaviors, thereby contributing to efforts to promote environmental health.

Soil Quality at Rice Fields with Organic, Semi-organic and Inorganic Management in Wonogiri Regency, Indonesia

The high demand of rice is fulfilled by intensification, particularly with the use of chemical fertilizer that allegedly causes land and environmental problems in a long term. As public awareness of environmental health rises, more rice fields are managed organically and semi-organically, but there are still many that manage rice fields inorganically. Assessment of soil quality of the three types of rice field management is important to prove that organic rice fields have better soil quality than semi-organic and inorganic rice fields, as well as to evaluate soil conditions on the location. This research was conducted in Girimarto, Wonogiri, Indonesia, using a descriptive explorative method with a survey approach on three points of each management system of rice fields, which are organic, semi-organic and inorganic rice fields. Statistical analysis was performed by Pearson correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) to determine the indicators affecting soil quality, which are called the minimum data set (MDS). There were selected indicators in this research, including total microbes, base saturation, cation exchangeable capacity and organic carbon. Based on the results of the study, organic rice fields have the best soil quality with a score of soil quality index (SQI) of 2.3, compared to semi-organic rice field SQI (2.2) and inorganic rice field SQI (1.7). The results indicate that organic management contributes to better soil quality and environment.

AWARENESS PROGRAM FOR MOTHERS OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS ABOUPT HEALTH DISKS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANTS

The study aims at educating mothers with special needs about the dangers of health environmental pollutants. The study aimed to increase awareness of the risks of environmental health pollutants among mothers with special needs. The study targeted mothers of children with needs for groups whose capacities are affected by environmental pollutants, namely autism, hyperactivity and mental retardation. And the study reviewed the impact of seven environmental pollutants that affect health, air pollution, Lead, plastics, noise, industrial colors, preservatives, electromagnetic waves, chemicals. One of the results of the study was the success of the programme in raising awareness of environmental health pollutants among mothers. One of the findings of the study was the increase in children's cognitive capacities as a result of increased awareness of their mothers' health. One of the recommendations of the study was to make mothers with special needs aware of environmental health risks; Attention should be paid to health awareness programmes in rehabilitation centres for persons with special needs; Environmental health awareness should be considered an important element in the guidance programmes for mothers; Numbers of health education programmes for mothers on how to provide a healthy environment for their children.

LITERATURE REVIEW: DESCRIPTION OF MALE BEHAVIOR TO IMPROVE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH STATUS IN PREGNANCY PREPARATION

Male awareness of preconception health is exceptionally low, many men considering that maintaining preconception health is women’s responsibility. Men spermatozoa contribute 50% of DNA, meaning that when a man’s DNA is damaged, it affects fertility and birth defect. This study aims to explain the picture of male behaviour to improve reproductive health status in pregnancy preparation. The method used is literature review obtained from three databases namely PubMed, DOAJ, and Google Scholar using inclusion and exclusion criteria. Keywords used in literature search: “Men Preconception Health Behaviour”, "Men Awareness in Preconception", "Fathers Role in Preconception", and "Paternal Involvement”. From 10 journals found 7 types of male behaviour during the preconception period are smoking behaviour, alcohol consumption behaviour, vitamin and supplement consumption behaviour, unhealthy diet behaviour, awareness of environmental health and awareness of genetic conditions. There are still men who carry out negative behaviors during the preconception period such as smoking, consuming alcohol, and having an unhealthy diet, so that needing health promotion about the importance of improving reproductive health status during the preconception period or pregnancy preparation. Keywords: Male Behaviour, Reproductive Health, Pregnancy Preparation

UPAYA PEMBERDAYAAN PENINGKATAN RUMAH SEHAT DI DUSUN PRINGGOLAYAN KECAMATAN BANGUNTAPAN TAHUN 2020

The house is a basic human need to live and as a means of interaction between fellow residents and even the environment. Community life of RT 04 and 07 Pringgolayan village are still very simple. So that it affects the awareness of environmental health, especially in managing and maintaining the hygiene of each resident's home. There are still many houses that do not open windows every day and there are wigglers in the bathtub. Therefore, further education is needed at the family level on how to keep the house healthy. The purpose of this activity is to provide education about the efforts that can be made to improve healthy homes. The method used is through counseling about efforts to improve healthy homes and by distributing leaflets to each resident's home. The target are PKK women RT 04 and 07 Pringgolayan village. When the activity is carried out, mothers can actively participate and capture the education that has been delivered. The impact obtained is that PKK women can increase knowledge and increase awareness to make their homes healthy.