The Environment vs The Lived Environment: What does this have to do with Public Health?
I developed an interest in different geographical environments and how lived environments affect health and well-being from my childhood experiences. My parents grew up in Africa whereas I grew up in the UK. By visiting several countries in Africa including Ghana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa with my family, I’ve witnessed first-hand how poverty, tropical diseases, and the impacts of climate change affect people’s physical and mental well-being.
In Zimbabwe, some relatives on my mum’s side were displaced and forced to leave their traditional family homes due to persistent droughts and floods causing severe food insecurity, malnutrition, vector and water borne diseases. In Northern Ghana, the tropical landscape of my dad’s homeland has become almost desert due to climate change and unsustainable land use practices such as poor mining. Many of my relatives are employed in the mining sector or have lived around mines. Unfortunately, many suffered long term health effects or died as result of mining dust and mercury inhalation.
For my dissertation, I studied the impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity and health in the Sahel. By doing this, I recognised that climate change is increasing vulnerability and threatening health, food security and socio-economic well-being of people within this region. Family experiences coupled with my research highlighted that climate change and health inequalities disproportionately affect developing countries. I wondered why developed countries couldn’t share their resources and send money to developing countries. After all, they’re the biggest contributors to climate change, right? If only it was that simple. The issues are far more complex. The reality is that a global effort is required.
As an environmental scientist, I’m aware the effects of climate change are becoming evident in the UK with increased rainfall and flooding. Somewhat similarly to experiences in Africa, many people have experienced being displaced from their homes due to flooding and sewage contamination. This made me confront my biases and recognise that climate and environmental impacts on health and well-being are universal. Climate mitigations, adaptations and public health interventions should be prioritised.
I’m privileged to live in a country where I don’t directly see and feel the extreme effects of climate change and poor health. I have access to available free healthcare services and abundant food and water. While I don’t face the same struggles that my family in Africa face, this reality ignited my interest to study global public health so I can contribute towards solutions.
Growing up in Liverpool, one of the most deprived authorities in England gave me further insights. Liverpool has high infant mortality rates, higher levels of premature deaths from cardiovascular and liver disease, high obesity rates, pockets of poor air pollution. While I understood about poverty and poor health outcomes in Africa, I reflected on how a city in a developed country has so many health inequalities. I thought about the positive impact health promotion and public health interventions can have and believed that this is something I could meaningfully contribute to.
Overall, I want to learn about global systems and policies and to develop an upstream and population level approach to help understand these global problems better with an aim to develop more effective interventions leading to improvements in population health and wellbeing. I want to help improve healthcare delivery systems and education within developing countries, reduce inequalities and contribute towards prevention strategies. Issues like climate change, disease outbreaks, inadequate access to healthcare and non-communicable diseases are getting progressively worse. To join a field who are actively trying to manage these effects for the benefit of vulnerable communities and populations worldwide would be extremely rewarding.
