New Solutions-A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy最新文献

The urgency of dealing with risks associated with climate change and the need for effective response measures to their impacts are increasing daily the world over. Literature abounds regarding the impacts of climate change on physical, psychosocial, and other health outcomes. In contrast, little research exists on the health impacts of response measures to climate change. This critical review seeks to contribute towards closing this gap through a synthesis of current literature on the psychosocial health outcomes of climate adaptation actions. Our results found both positive and negative outcomes associated with psychosocial health that may result from climate adaptation actions. We propose the utilization of well-developed conceptual frameworks and evaluation tools in assessment and analysis of these outcomes. Ultimately, there is need to expand similar and related areas of research more broadly and on psychosocial effects, specifically.

Health care waste adversely affects society in ways that have been overlooked for decades, an issue that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has accelerated significantly. This policy statement addresses the human impacts that occur as health care waste is processed, transported, landfilled, or incinerated. With limited federal tracking and lack of regulation, patterns of environmental racism persist. Communities of color and low-income communities most often experience the greatest environmental health burdens through the disposal of waste in their communities. Many communities have called for action for decades, as our massive health care industry contributes greatly to these harms. Centering these communities, public health professionals must advocate for (1) evidence-based federal policies with transparent, accessible data about health care waste generation, type, and fate; (2) leadership within the health care industry (e.g., from hospitals, accrediting bodies, and professional organizations) to address environmental health and justice issues related to waste; (3) health impact assessments, cost-benefit analyses, and circular economy research with health care systems and communities to identify cost-effective, feasible, and just solutions; and (4) federal initiatives to prioritize funding toward mitigation of cumulative exposures and impacts, reparation for harms, and investment in well-being for communities exposed to waste, health care or otherwise. Some public health experts anticipate that we may be entering a "pandemic age," which suggests that, without intervention, intersecting issues of infectious disease, climate change, waste, and environmental health and justice will remain and reoccur.

The definition of Just Transition in recent years has been shaped by the political and ideological leanings of multiple stakeholders. Labor movements look at a Just Transition that secures workers' rights and jobs; environmental justice groups include whole communities impacted by fossil fuel in their description; multilateral institutions, investors, and transnational corporations see it through lenses of economics, financial support, and investment. However, a perspective on health is missing in all these approaches. The COVID-19 pandemic has established the importance of health-based planning, making evident the co-dependence of ecological health and human well-being. The debilitating post-pandemic economic crisis has reiterated the interlinkage between economics, public health, and the environment. This document posits that health is the overlapping but missing link between the different movements' dream for Just Transition into an equitable world, and to heal people and the planet damaged by fossil fuels. We need Just Transition that has holistic health systems and accessible healthcare services at its core.

An assessment of occupational disease in New York State was undertaken that partially replicated and expanded earlier work from 1987. Utilizing an expanded conception of occupational disease, the assessment used a variety of data sources and methods to provide estimates of mortality and morbidity of occupational disease; workers exposed to specific workplace hazards; disparities in occupational disease among racial/ethnic groups and gender; costs and distribution of costs of occupational disease; and accessible occupational medical resources. Examples of the pathways work may impact health in some of the major health issues of current import including stress-related health conditions; substance use; and overweight/obesity were included. The report contains recommendations for addressing the problem of occupational disease in New York State and advocates for the convening of a statewide group to develop an occupational disease prevention agenda.

This article investigates the lived experiences of health inequalities and inequities among tea garden laborers in Assam, India. By employing decolonial ethnographic research, this study explored long-standing health inequalities and inequities in the tea industry and workers' illnesses and injuries due to inadequate occupational, environmental, and health care policies. Neither the state nor the management of the tea garden, according to the interviews, has taken the essential actions to safeguard the health and safety of the workers in tea gardens either during the pandemic or at any other time. Instead, hearing gaalis (verbal abuses) from babus (the tea garden managers) is a part of their everyday life. We argue that even after 7 decades of post-colonial rule, tea garden workers are subject to a ghettoized economy characterized by closure and control. Thus, we need to reexamine how the tea industry is structured in order to rectify existing health inequities.