I am vibrant lady with passion for credible research findings. I am currently a postgraduate student in the department of environmental health sciences, university of Ibadan. I have experiences in writing and publishing, and it would be a great opportunity to enlarge my horizon as I join the editing team at intechopen.
This chapter presents an overview of the condition and quality of housing in Nigeria and its implication on respiratory health. Addressing housing issues offers public health practitioners an opportunity to assess an important social determinant of health. This chapter detailed the housing characteristics in Nigeria and revealed that respiratory health conditions, especially among children is associated with certain environmental factors that perturb the composition of the indoor air, and thus the housing quality. Drawing on this perspective, this chapter pursues the following questions: (1) What are the factors that affect the quality of housing where people spend most of their time daily? and (2) Given the housing condition in Nigeria, what housing-related factors influence the prevalence of respiratory health conditions especially among children? In the course of the discussion, we described the meteorological conditions of houses in relation to respiratory conditions, established a link between indoor air and housing quality, and elucidated the indicators for evaluating housing quality. Drawing on the associated risk factors, it argues that the quality of housing, including the external and internal structures, as well as the internal environment has a selective force on the respiratory health status of its occupants.
Part of the book: Housing
Environmental media majorly connotes abiotic components of the natural environment, namely, air, water and soil. Pollution to these media has resulted to a great deal of respiratory defects. Epidemiologic studies conducted in the U.S. and abroad provide evidence of associations between short and long-term exposure to fine particles in the air and both decrements in lung function growth in children and increased respiratory symptoms. Particles deposited in the respiratory tract in sufficient amounts induce lung inflammation, which has been demonstrated in both animal and controlled human exposure studies. More recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) also conducted an evaluation on the carcinogenicity of outdoor air pollution in the respiratory tract, including particle pollution, and concluded that both are Group I agents (carcinogenic to humans). Air pollution has been given great priority as a causal factor for respiratory defects; meanwhile dust particles from contaminated soil could also cause a great havoc. Moreover polluted water is also a major causal pathway. According to world health organization (WHO) 80% diseases are waterborne. Though water is an important natural resource used for drinking and other developmental purposes in our lives but health risk associated with polluted water includes different diseases in which respiratory diseases are the major ones. Bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases are spreading through polluted water and affecting human health. Poliomyelitis virus is responsible for poliomyelitis, sore throat, fever, nausea, which are all due to polluted water.
Part of the book: Respiratory Physiology
Efficient houses built in a way that respect resources and could last long in quality systems are said to be the way forward in achieving a low carbon footprint and a sustainable environment. These houses are constructed from high performance, energy saving materials with an energy maximizing building orientations. Findings have shown that as much as housing is a basic human need, in developing countries, around 40–75% of the population in fast growing cities is housed in squatter settlements without basic amenities and services. In sub-Saharan Africa, 59% of the populations in urban regions live in slums, about 30% in the Latin and Caribbean, 28% in Asia and Pacific region. Population migrate massively to big cities in search of green pastures, which has invariably turned green pastures into ‘brown’ if not ‘red’ pastures due to overcrowding and other social menace, turning houses to mere shelters. Energy efficiency or environmental friendly housing is far from the thoughts of dwellers which still crave to have or maintain a roof over their heads. Whereas government policies are majorly jeered towards constructing houses, if sustainable, would only be affordable for a few well to do population neglecting the homeless masses. Therefore, this chapter aims to expound on the situation of housing in developing countries as well as the possibility of achieving sustainable housing.
Part of the book: Sustainable Housing