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Environmental Development Influence on Public Health

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Health, Well-Being and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 5216

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Prof. Katarzyna Sygit

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Guest Editor

Medical Department, Calisia University, Kalisz 62-800, Poland
Interests: public health; health promotion; health and social problems of the elderly; environmental determinants of health

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The EU sustainable development strategy defines directions of the long-term vision of sustainable development, in which such elements as economic development, social coherence and environmental protection coexist and complement each other. The strategy highlights public health issues.

The first principle of the Rio de Janeiro Declaration on Environment and Development, concluded in 1992, says that: “Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature”. It shows explicitly the role of health issues in the concept of sustainable development. In the times when the idea of sustainable development forms the basis for a new developmental paradigm (also in the EU), i.e. creating a new social-economic model based on progress which ensures a better quality of life together with simultaneous care of the natural environment, it seems important to analyse public health issues in the context of environmental health.

The aim of this special issue is to collect and publish original research papersthat indicate the importance of environmental influence on public health, based on current international literature data.

Prof. Katarzyna Sygit
Guest Editor

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Keywords

health
public health
health promotion
environment
sustainable development
health determinants
environmental threats
environmental health

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 1148 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Influence of Outdoor Activities and Campus Landscape on University Students’ Subjective Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Huojin Chen and Jian-Hong Ye

Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4157; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15054157 - 24 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1741

Abstract

COVID-19 is reshaping the relationship between humans and their living environment, potentially generating a profound impact on human physical and mental health and quality of life. The objective of this study was to explore how outdoor activities and the campus landscape impacted the subjective well-being (SWB) of Chinese university students in the pre-COVID-19 era (before December 2019) and during the COVID-19 era (from December 2019 to early December 2022). This study collected 439 valid questionnaires from students at a Chinese university, with the questions focusing on the frequency and length of time that university students of different genders, grades, and abilities to cover their living expenses participated in outdoor activities in the pre- and COVID-19 eras, as well as the changes in their SWB. Paired sample t tests revealed a significant decrease in SWB during the COVID-19 era compared with the pre-COVID-19 era, while independent sample t tests and a one-way ANOVA showed that changes in the SWB of university students pre- and during COVID-19 were not related to their gender or their ability to cover their living expenses, but were related to their grades. Hierarchical linear regression showed that outdoor activities in the COVID-19 era had a significant effect on mitigating the decline in students’ SWB. These results suggest a proactive way to increase resilience to future public health challenges and other crises of human life safety. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Development Influence on Public Health)

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17 pages, 2905 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Geo-Environmental Factors’ Influence on the Prevalence and Distribution of Dental Fluorosis: Evidence from Dali County, Northwest China

by Min Yang, Aning Zhao, Hailing Ke and Huaqing Chen

Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 1871; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15031871 - 18 Jan 2023

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 1400

Abstract

Residents living in areas with high fluorine environmental background will ingest excessive fluorine from the atmosphere, drinking water, food and other ways. Long-term effects of fluorine on the human body could cause people suffering from dental fluorosis and influence the sustainable development of the severe fluorosis areas. Previous studies have independently discussed the high fluoride environment in Dali County from the aspects of natural environment, drinking water quality and endemic fluorosis. This study carried out a detail investigation on dental fluorosis population in seven selected villages of Dali County, Shaanxi province, northwest China. The highest dental fluorosis index of 1.9 was found in Lianjia village located near the Anren depression, while the lowest dental fluorosis index of 0.0 was found in Jiaxi village near the Yellow River alluvium. Groundwater fluorine contents the range was 0.01 mg/L to 11.80 mg/L, with the highest value (2.6 mg/L) being observed in the 2nd terrace of Weihe River. The lowest groundwater fluorine content (0.8 mg/L) was observed in the Yellow River alluvium. Soil fluorine contents ranged from 1.18 mg/kg to 13.70 mg/kg, with its highest value (13.70 mg/kg) observed in Xinfeng village near the Anren depression. The lowest value of fluorine (1.18 mg/kg) was found in soil from the 1st terrace of Weihe River. As for the fluorine contents of corn, they ranged from 4.04 mg/kg to 7.72 mg/kg. The highest value (7.72 mg/kg) appeared in the 3rd terrace of Weihe River and the lowest value (4.04 mg/kg) in the 2nd terrace of Weihe River. The soil leaching was the dominant fluorine source of groundwater environment. Areas with severe dental fluorosis are located at the edge of the depression and the conjunction between steep slope and gentle slope. A poor correlation was found between the dental fluorosis index from the seven investigated villages and the corn fluorine content contrarily to the groundwater fluorine content, which positively correlated to the dental fluorosis index. Based on the obtained results, two recommendations were done to prevent and control dental fluorosis and accelerate the sustainable development in Dali County: to strengthen the use of low fluorine groundwater for drinking water supply, and to widely install the public water purifiers in the rural communities for purifying high-fluorine water to reduce the incidence of dental fluorosis in the population. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Development Influence on Public Health)

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16 pages, 341 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Green Technology of Foreign Direct Investment on Public Health: Evidence from China

by Zhizhong Liu, Guangyue Liu, Xu Han and Yingna Chen

Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13526; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su142013526 - 19 Oct 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1278

Abstract

Nowadays, public health issues are increasingly in the spotlight, and the role played by foreign direct investment (FDI) cannot be ignored, especially in developing countries. Scholars have discussed the influencing mechanism of FDI on public health from both positive and negative aspects, but there is little literature focused on the impact of FDI’s green technology spillovers. This paper explores the impact of spontaneous green technology progress induced by FDI, i.e., FDI’s green technology spillover effect, on the public health status of China. It constructs a theoretical model based on the cost discovery theory and uses the Global Malmquist–Luenberger Method to calculate the green technology spillover index; then, it empirically researches the impact of this spillover effect on public health based on the Grossman health product function, using Chinese provincial data from 2007 to 2019. After a series of robustness tests, this paper also discusses the regional heterogeneity and the influencing mechanism. The main conclusions are as follows: Firstly, there is a significant negative correlation between FDI’s green technology spillover and infant mortality, indicating that the spillover effect significantly promotes China’s public health. Secondly, the results of regional heterogeneity show that the spillover effect of green technology presents a decreasing trend from east to west regions. The threshold effect test results also show that, when the level of economic development is extremely low or exceeds a specific threshold, FDI’s green technology spillover will have a positive impact on public health. Finally, FDI’s green technology spillover improves public health by controlling environmental pollution and optimizing industrial activities, but it does not worsen public health by increasing income inequality. The conclusions of this paper provide empirical support and policy suggestions for rationally and effectively utilizing FDI to promote China’s public health in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Development Influence on Public Health)

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