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Changing exposures in a changing world: models for reducing the burden of disease

  • William A. Suk EMAIL logo and Sara Mishamandani
Published/Copyright: February 17, 2016
Reviews on Environmental Health
From the journal Reviews on Environmental Health Volume 31 Issue 1

Abstract

Environmental exposures are changing dramatically in location, intensity, and frequency. Many developing countries are undergoing a transition in which they face the double burden of infectious diseases as well as chronic diseases. Noncommunicable diseases have emerged as the leading cause of death and disability in developing countries. Globally, pollution is insufficiently appreciated and inadequately quantified as a cause of disease. The health burden from both noninfectious diseases and infectious disease, especially parasites, is high among exposed people. Mothers and children are particularly vulnerable to pollution-related diseases in developing countries. Exposures to pollution can cause protracted noncommunicable diseases across their life span. A global initiative to promote human health sciences and technologies would enhance collaborations and communications amongst investigators and public environmental health officials. Existing models that facilitate the transfer of information and research results exist and can provide insight into building such an international network, allowing better prediction of disease risk and provide ways to reduce exposure to environmental contaminants. A global network would bring together scientists from multiple disciplines and countries to work toward a better understanding of the double burden of disease, especially in low and middle income countries, and promote ways to improve public health.

Keywords: children’s health; disease burden; global network; infectious disease; noncommunicable disease
Corresponding author: William A. Suk, Hazardous Substances Research Branch/Superfund Research Program, National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Research Triangle Park, NC, USA, E-mail:

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Received: 2015-10-14
Accepted: 2015-11-20
Published Online: 2016-02-17
Published in Print: 2016-03-01

©2016 by De Gruyter

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Traditional and emerging environmental hazards in South-East Asia: double-trouble in the 21st century
  4. A quarter century of the Pacific Basin Consortium: looking back to move forward
  5. Exposure to Metals
  6. Arsenic projects in SE Asia
  7. Lead exposure from battery recycling in Indonesia
  8. Connecting mercury science to policy: from sources to seafood
  9. Mercury exposure in the work place and human health: dental amalgam use in dentistry at dental teaching institutions and private dental clinics in selected cities of Pakistan
  10. Protecting health from metal exposures in drinking water
  11. Exposure assessment of lead from food and airborne dusts and biomonitoring in pregnant mothers, their fetus and siblings in Karachi, Pakistan and Shimotsuke, Japan
  12. Mining
  13. Reconciling PM10 analyses by different sampling methods for Iron King Mine tailings dust
  14. The “CHILD” framework for the study of artisanal mercury mining communities
  15. Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas: impact on health and environment
  16. Hazardous Waste
  17. Searching bioremediation patents through Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
  18. Proteomics of Sphingobium indicum B90A for a deeper understanding of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) bioremediation
  19. Novel industrial wastewater treatment integrated with recovery of water and salt under a zero liquid discharge concept
  20. Water
  21. Connecting science with industry: lessons learned transferring a novel plasmonic mercury sensor from the bench to the field
  22. Pilot-scale UV/H2O2 study for emerging organic contaminants decomposition
  23. Nanotechnology: a clean and sustainable technology for the degradation of pharmaceuticals present in water and wastewater
  24. Solar-driven membrane distillation demonstration in Leupp, Arizona
  25. What works in water supply and sanitation projects in developing countries with EWB-USA
  26. Natural Disasters and a Changing Environment
  27. Environmental exposures due to natural disasters
  28. Changing exposures in a changing world: models for reducing the burden of disease
  29. Sustainable development through a gendered lens: climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction
  30. Environmental Justice and Human Rights
  31. Creating healthy and just bioregions
  32. Worm-free children: an integrated approach to reduction of soil-transmitted helminth infections in Central Java
  33. Diabetes in Native Americans: elevated risk as a result of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
  34. Pollution, health and development: the need for a new paradigm
  35. EcoSystem
  36. Pacific connections for health, ecosystems and society: new approaches to the land-water-health nexus
  37. Exposure to e-waste
  38. E-waste: the growing global problem and next steps
  39. Global challenges for e-waste management: the societal implications
  40. E-waste issues in Sri Lanka and the Basel Convention
  41. E-waste interventions in Ghana
  42. CALUX bioassay: a cost-effective rapid screening technique for screening dioxins like compounds
  43. Cancer
  44. Cancer surveillance and research on environmental contributions to cancer
  45. Domestic incense use and lung cancer in Asia: a review
  46. Children
  47. Inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene in the South Pacific: how might it be impacting children?
  48. Children’s environmental health indicators in Australia: are we collecting the right information?
  49. Community-based efforts in health promotion in indigenous villages on the Thailand-Myanmar border
  50. Emerging issues
  51. Bayesian networks in infectious disease eco-epidemiology
  52. Health co-benefits in mortality avoidance from implementation of the mass rapid transit (MRT) system in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  53. Particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) personal exposure evaluation on mechanics and administrative officers at the motor vehicle testing center at Pulo Gadung, DKI Jakarta
  54. Life cycle assessment of dairy farms
https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2015-0049
Keywords for this article
children’s health; disease burden; global network; infectious disease; noncommunicable disease

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Traditional and emerging environmental hazards in South-East Asia: double-trouble in the 21st century
  4. A quarter century of the Pacific Basin Consortium: looking back to move forward
  5. Exposure to Metals
  6. Arsenic projects in SE Asia
  7. Lead exposure from battery recycling in Indonesia
  8. Connecting mercury science to policy: from sources to seafood
  9. Mercury exposure in the work place and human health: dental amalgam use in dentistry at dental teaching institutions and private dental clinics in selected cities of Pakistan
  10. Protecting health from metal exposures in drinking water
  11. Exposure assessment of lead from food and airborne dusts and biomonitoring in pregnant mothers, their fetus and siblings in Karachi, Pakistan and Shimotsuke, Japan
  12. Mining
  13. Reconciling PM10 analyses by different sampling methods for Iron King Mine tailings dust
  14. The “CHILD” framework for the study of artisanal mercury mining communities
  15. Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas: impact on health and environment
  16. Hazardous Waste
  17. Searching bioremediation patents through Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
  18. Proteomics of Sphingobium indicum B90A for a deeper understanding of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) bioremediation
  19. Novel industrial wastewater treatment integrated with recovery of water and salt under a zero liquid discharge concept
  20. Water
  21. Connecting science with industry: lessons learned transferring a novel plasmonic mercury sensor from the bench to the field
  22. Pilot-scale UV/H2O2 study for emerging organic contaminants decomposition
  23. Nanotechnology: a clean and sustainable technology for the degradation of pharmaceuticals present in water and wastewater
  24. Solar-driven membrane distillation demonstration in Leupp, Arizona
  25. What works in water supply and sanitation projects in developing countries with EWB-USA
  26. Natural Disasters and a Changing Environment
  27. Environmental exposures due to natural disasters
  28. Changing exposures in a changing world: models for reducing the burden of disease
  29. Sustainable development through a gendered lens: climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction
  30. Environmental Justice and Human Rights
  31. Creating healthy and just bioregions
  32. Worm-free children: an integrated approach to reduction of soil-transmitted helminth infections in Central Java
  33. Diabetes in Native Americans: elevated risk as a result of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
  34. Pollution, health and development: the need for a new paradigm
  35. EcoSystem
  36. Pacific connections for health, ecosystems and society: new approaches to the land-water-health nexus
  37. Exposure to e-waste
  38. E-waste: the growing global problem and next steps
  39. Global challenges for e-waste management: the societal implications
  40. E-waste issues in Sri Lanka and the Basel Convention
  41. E-waste interventions in Ghana
  42. CALUX bioassay: a cost-effective rapid screening technique for screening dioxins like compounds
  43. Cancer
  44. Cancer surveillance and research on environmental contributions to cancer
  45. Domestic incense use and lung cancer in Asia: a review
  46. Children
  47. Inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene in the South Pacific: how might it be impacting children?
  48. Children’s environmental health indicators in Australia: are we collecting the right information?
  49. Community-based efforts in health promotion in indigenous villages on the Thailand-Myanmar border
  50. Emerging issues
  51. Bayesian networks in infectious disease eco-epidemiology
  52. Health co-benefits in mortality avoidance from implementation of the mass rapid transit (MRT) system in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  53. Particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) personal exposure evaluation on mechanics and administrative officers at the motor vehicle testing center at Pulo Gadung, DKI Jakarta
  54. Life cycle assessment of dairy farms
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