273109 HealthQuest: 5 Steps to Reverse Rising Disease Trends and Help the Planet Too

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 : 9:00 AM - 9:15 AM

Maria Valenti , Healthy Aging and the Environment Initiative, Collaborative on Health and the Environment, Gloucester, MA
A century of change in the natural, built and social environments has caused dramatic changes in the patterns and distribution of diseases, including huge increases in chronic diseases, and at younger ages, many of which are risk factors for later life disease including neurodegeneration. The over 65 population will nearly double in the next few decades, increasing the numbers at risk. The landmark UN 2005 Millennium Assessment told us that in the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period in human history. The modern chemical environment has changed dramatically. The US now manufactures or imports ~42 billion pounds of chemicals daily. We carry many of these chemicals in our blood and body tissues, even as newborns. Changes in agriculture, food processing, and distribution have led to the consumption of more calorie-dense, processed foods. Suburban sprawl fostered greater use of the automobile and reductions in physical activity. Urban design has eroded public space and diminished air quality, creating obstacles to exercise. Crime also discourages outdoor activities. The income gap between the wealthy and the poor has increased significantly. Social and economic conditions such as poverty and education are powerful predictors of health status, disease risk, and life expectancy. Within this context chronic diseases have emerged as a profound public health burden. What can we do? A lot! Come hear how you can take steps to promote health in your life and the greater global neighborhood.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Environmental health sciences
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related education
Public health or related public policy
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe changes in their personal food, natural, built, chemical, and social environments that can enhance their health. 2. Explain how personal actions in the food, natural, built, chemical, and social environments can have cross-cutting influence and improve the health of the greater society. 3. Name at least three policy interventions than can have effects on personal health.

Keywords: Environmental Health, Aging

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: After leading national environmental health projects for 20 years at Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, I now coordinate the Collaborative on Health and the Environment’s Healthy Aging and the Environment initiative. I am the co-author of the peer-reviewed publication Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging(2008)and Healthy Aging and the Environment: A Pocket Guide; Generations at Risk: Reproductive Health and the Environment (MIT Press 1999); and In Harm’s Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development (2000).
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.