Unit Code: EVH511

Unit Name: Foundations of Environmental Health

Description: This course provides new undergraduate students of Environmental Health with the basic knowledge for understanding Environmental Health. Environmental Health (EH) refers to a very complex interaction between environments and human health. EH is our understanding of how natural environments as well as those created by humans (anthropogenic environments) affect all that live in that environment. The ‘environment’ is a complex system of living things and natural processes. Humans is one species (a ‘living thing’) in this system. But humans (us), cause disproportionate and detrimental impacts on all of our environments. This affects the states of these environments – which also affects our own health and wellbeing. Environmental Health is a very wide-ranging and diverse field / discipline. EH studies and responds to all the many aspects - from environmental states of hazard in settings (e.g. at home like in ‘domestic’), environmental carrier media(water, air, food, soil, goods), exposures (how we interact with these hazards and media) and the health effects (disease and illness) we might contract from these exposures. This all happens within a continuum – ranging from our genetic make-up on the one end - to our social and behavioural traits at the other end. Environmental Health professionals / practitioners as well as Environmental Health scientists think of - and explore - how ‘environment’ in all its forms - might affect human health and work towards preventing the detrimental impacts - as well as promote the beneficial impacts - that flow from this Environment and Health relationship. At the same time, you the EH student must understand Environmental Health in its fullest context. We therefore make sure that you are given the developed as well as developing country environmental health context - from local to regional to global to develop you towards practicing also in other areas of the globe. This course will introduce students to the scope beyond the basics of geographical, environmental and biological sciences and brings in new and modern concepts of understanding environment and health. It’s not always how humans dominate and pollute the environment but it’s how the environment can support the growing human population and assimilate its problems.

Learning Target Outcomes: On successful completion of this course, the students will be able to : 1. Explain the context of Environmental Health. 2. Generalize the science of Environmental Health. 3. Relate anthropogenic (human-made) world we have made for us. 4. Demonstrate how the things we need to live affect the environment and ultimately affects us. 5. Describe how we as humans live with the other beings in the world we have created. 6. Discover with minimal application, the methods of Environmental Health and ethical principles behind its applications.

Prerequisite: NA

Prerequisite Sentence: N/A

Credit Point: 15

Offered In: Semester 1