Pollution Women Poverty And Reproductive Health Environmental Sciences

As World Health Organization and Last emphasize it, the environment influences our health in many ways - through exposures to physical, chemical and biological risk factors, and through related changes in our behavior in response to those factors. Unfortunately, environmental risk factors like unsafe drinking water and sanitation, and indoor and outdoor pollution can threaten health and the quality of life of people (Asian Development Bank, 2011). It was estimated that 24% of the global burden of disease from all causes and 23% of all deaths are attributable to these environmental risk factors (WHO, 2006). In 2008, the estimated mortality attributable to outdoor air pollution amounts to 1.34 million premature deaths (WHO, 2011a), nearly 2 million people die due to indoor air pollution (WHO, 2011b).

Studies also revealed that the extent of the burden of environmental degradation is gendered in nature (World Bank, 2012; Clougherty, 2010; Birnbaum, 2008; Thaxton, 2007; Sass, 2002). Women and men often engage in different types of work inside and outside the home, have different levels of access to and control over resources, and have different opportunities to participate in decisions regarding natural resource use. Carrying heavy loads of water and firewood can result in injuries among women especially to pregnant women. Research also indicates that water shortages and lack of equitable water access often lead to an abandonment of hygienic practices and an increase in waterborne diseases (Sultana 2011a; Gururani 2002). All these contribute to the increased susceptibility and vulnerability of women to the adverse health effects of environmental risk factors (Birnbaum, 2008; Thaxton, 2007; Sass, 2002) particularly their reproductive health (Foster, 2008; Mendola, Messer, & Rappazzo, 2008; Rier, 2008).

This claim is supported by the report of the Population Reference Bureau (2007) claiming that the environmental pollutants: can increase women's vulnerability to illness during pregnancy and childbirth; can cause them hormonal disorders; and, can contaminate their breast milk. These are just few of the many reproductive consequences of environmental degradation to women's reproductive health given that only one-tenth of the 87,000 chemicals registered for commerce in the United States have been tested for potential adverse health effects. Of those that have been tested, only a portion has been assessed for reproductive health effects (The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, 2010; World Bank, 2012).

Most of the discipline-rigid researchers are still bound to pathogenic and pollutant causation of the reproductive health problems while neglecting the social determinants such as gender and poverty. The interaction among health, gender, environmental factors, and poverty remain elusive and remain implicit (Sims & Butter, 2000) It is now one of the undertakings of this review to address these gaps.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This paper focuses on the health, gender roles, and health consequences of pollution on women living in the polluted rural areas. Studies included in the review are foreign in nature, conducted as from 2000 to 2012, since there is a scarcity of studies conducted locally. Discussions are presented in four major sections: (1) the reproductive health consequences that arise from pollution; (2) factors including poverty accounting for the gender differences in the health consequences of pollution; (3) the factors that influence women's susceptibility and vulnerability to the health effects of pollution; (4) and, pollution and rural areas which presented the nexus among women, pollution, and the rural area.

A. Effects of Pollution to Women's Reproductive Health

Pollutants or toxicants may come from indoor air and the atmosphere. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, indoor air pollution has been ranked as among the top five risks to public health for more than a decade (Pepper, Gerba, & Brusseau, 2006). Indoor air pollutants may come in the form of volatile organic compounds from common household products designed for cleaning, disinfecting, degreasing or waxing, and even from seemingly innocuous materials, like cosmetics, air fresheners, or dry-cleaned fabrics, pesticides, construction materials and furnishings; combustion products such as carbon monoxide nitrogen dioxide, and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS); lead and radon; and biological pollutants such as mold, endotoxin, viruses, bacteria, and animal and plant allergens (Pepper et al, 2006).

Substances with potentially harmful effects on reproductive health are present in water, air, soil, dust, food, and consumer products. Women may encounter these toxicants in the home, community, school, or workplace. To result in an adverse effect, a toxicant must come into contact with an individual and enter the body, a step referred to as biologic uptake. Biologic uptake is the point at which exposure occurs (Association of Reproductive Health professionals, 2010; Agarwal, 2005).

Over the past several decades, awareness has been growing regarding the reproductive health effects of exposures to these chemicals. Reproductive toxicants may contribute to a spectrum of adverse effects on reproductive health. These effects include menstrual irregularities, early or delayed puberty, infertility, subfertility, early pregnancy loss, fetal death, impaired fetal growth, low birth weight, premature birth, and structural (e.g., cardiac defect) or functional (e.g., learning disability) birth defects. The impact of exposure to a reproductive toxicant may not be immediately evident. Instead, the effects may emerge at key life transitions: for example, when attempting conception, during pregnancy, during development of the embryo or fetus, in the newborn, and during the offspring's childhood, puberty, and eventual fertility as an adult (Association of Reproductive Health professionals, 2010).

A. HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF POLLUTION

Pollutants or toxicants can gain entry into the human body in three ways: (1) through ingestion with the gastro-intestinal tract as the primary target along with associated organs of absorption, digestion, biotransformation and excretion; (2) by penetration through general skin or mucous membranes, or by insect vector bites; and (3) inhalation through the respiratory system. Once in the bloodstream, they can damage many internal organs and systems impairing the physiological processes of the body (Agarwal, 2005).

Pollutants may come from indoor air and the atmosphere. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, indoor air pollution has been ranked as among the top five risks to public health for more than a decade (Pepper, Gerba, & Brusseau, 2006). Indoor air pollutants may come in the form of volatile organic compounds from common household products designed for cleaning, disinfecting, degreasing or waxing, and even from seemingly innocuous materials, like cosmetics, air fresheners, or dry-cleaned fabrics, pesticides, construction materials and furnishings; combustion products such as carbon monoxide nitrogen dioxide, and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS); lead and radon; and biological pollutants such as mold, endotoxin, viruses, bacteria, and animal and plant allergens (Pepper et al, 2006).

According to Envirocomp Institute, pollutants can be classified as primary or secondary. Primary pollutants are substances that are directly emitted into the atmosphere from sources. The main primary pollutants known to cause harm in high enough concentrations are the carbon compounds, nitrogen compounds, sulfur compounds, halogen compounds, and particulate matter (PM or "aerosol"). Secondary pollutants are not directly emitted from sources, but instead form in the atmosphere from primary pollutants (also called "precursors"). The main secondary pollutants known to cause harm in high enough concentrations are ozone, sulfuric acid droplets, nitric acid droplets, sulfates and nitrates aerosols, and organic aerosols (Daly & Zannetti, 2007; Pepper et al, 2006).

Most commonly, air pollution poses considerable health risks to humans. It harms the human respiratory and pulmonary systems.

Vulnerability

As there is no nationally or internationally agreed definition of vulnerability,

for the purposes of this proposal vulnerability is defined as follows:

(a) Vulnerability occurs when threats to the individual (from either the

environment or from personal circumstances) become greater than the

ability to cope with those threats (ie resilience). When this happens,

health outcomes will most likely suffer. (Gateshead Council, 2013)

Article name: Pollution Women Poverty And Reproductive Health Environmental Sciences essay, research paper, dissertation