Risk transition is the process by which societies change exposure from traditional to modern hazards and is associated with economic development. This can be a problem if the transition is not well managed as there can be an overlap of traditional and modern hazards, leading to an extra health burden on society. The following extract from the WHO (1997) explains further.
The environmental health risk transition
‘Traditional’ environmental health risks relating to unsafe food and drinking water;
inadequate sanitation; infections from animals and vectors, and poor housing have a major influence on health when countries are at early stages of development. Industrial development introduces ‘modern’ environmental health risks relating to air pollution;
chemical exposures and traffic accidents. The term ‘risk transition’ is used to describe the reduction in ‘traditional risks’ and increase in ‘modern risks’ that take place as economic development progresses. However, when environmental health risks are poorly managed, the ‘traditional risks’ are not eliminated in all parts of society and remain important health threats among the poor and disadvantaged, while the ‘modern risks’ continue unabated. But if environmental health risks are well managed, the ‘trad- itional risks’ can be eliminated almost completely and ‘modern risk’ reduced through effective prevention programmes.
Favourable completion of the environmental health risk transition can be threatened by the emergence of new infectious diseases; the occurrence of old disease in geographic areas where they had not previously appeared, and the resurgence of old diseases that had once appeared to be under control. In some countries, the revival of traditional health risks of this type is the result of poorly- managed and inequitable development.
Associated factors are wide-ranging and include destruction of pristine areas; land use changes; resource extraction and agricultural exploitation; introduction of new agricultural and animal husbandry methods; increasing spread of drug-resistant patho- gens and pesticide resistance in vectors; increased mobility of people and foodstuffs and changing lifestyles and eating habits.
Managing the risk transition also involves preventing or minimising modern environ- Table 3.4 Continued
Traditional hazards Modern hazards
inadequate solid waste disposal solid and hazardous waste accumulation occupational injury hazards in agriculture and
cottage industries
chemical and radiation hazards following introduction of industrial and agricultural technologies
natural disasters, including floods, droughts and earthquakes
deforestation, land degradation and other major ecological changes at local and regional levels
climate change, ozone depletion in the stratosphere and trans-boundary pollution
36 Environment, Health and Sustainable Development
mental health risks. These can arise from the very modernisation activities that help lower traditional risks.
Activity 3.4
The authors touch on methods required to ensure that new risks are kept to a minimum and traditional risks are eliminated. What are these?
Feedback
In order to complete the health risk transition favourably, the authors emphasize the need for ‘equitable development’; good management and effective prevention pro- grammes. These require committed leadership; substantial long-term investment of resources; coordination across all relevant sectors including health, transport, housing, environment, etc.; long-term planning, monitoring and target setting, possibly including penalties for defaulters. These measures can prevent the advance of new diseases, the resurgence of old ones, the destruction of land, the introduction of new drug-resistant pathogens and pollution and lifestyle changes likely to promote ill health.
Summary
You will have seen the importance of human driving forces – such as population, poverty, technology and economics – in alleviating or exacerbating the effect of the environment on health. There are many types of environmental hazard, from such traditional dangers as lack of access to safe water to the modern perils of noxious waste accumulation. How societies move from traditional to modern hazards is known as the ‘risk transition’ and is of growing significance in the developing world, where governments and individuals often have to cope with both types of hazard simultaneously.
References
EIA (2005) http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/archives/china/part1.html. Accessed 14 February 2005.
Intermediate Technology Development Group: http://itdg.org/?id=new_technologies_case_
studies. Accessed September 2004.
Kuby M, Harner J and Gober P (1998) Human Geography in Action. New York: John Wiley &
Sons Ltd.
Last A (1995) A Dictionary of Epidemiology (3rd edn). New York: Oxford University Press.
Sarre P and Blunden J (1996) Environment, Population and Development. Buckingham: Open University Press.
UN (2001) Road Map towards the Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration:
Report of the Secretary-General. New York: United Nations.
UN (2004) Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration: Report of the Secretary- General. New York: United Nations.
UNDP (2003) Human Development Report 2003: Millennium Development Goals: A Compact among Nations to End Human Poverty. New York: Oxford University Press. Available at:
http://www.undp.org/hdr2003/
Changing pressures on health 37
UNFPA (2004) State of the World Population Report. New York: UN.
WHO (1996) World Health Report: Fighting Disease, Fostering Development. Geneva: WHO.
WHO (1997) Environment, Health and Sustainable Development. Geneva: WHO.
Further reading
Millennium Development Goals: http://www.undp.org/mdg/
Population issues UN Population Fund: http://www.unfpa.org/
Science and Environment Health Network (NGO, useful information on the precautionary principle): http://www.sehn.org/
Smith KR (1997) Development, health, and the environmental risk transition, in Shahi G, Levy BS, Binger A, Kjellstrom T and Lawrence R (eds) International Perspectives in Environment, Development, and Health. New York: Springer, 51–62.
UN human development reports: http://hdr.undp.org/