Environmental
Health Practice in Nigeria
History of
Environmental Health
PREPARED BY ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICERS REGISTRATION COUNCIL OF NIGERIA (EHORECON) www.ehorecon.gov.ng/welcome
The history of and the
development of Environmental Health are unique and complex in every country of
the world. It is not possible to assign a specific date from which problems
relating to environment started. However, the need to control the environment
in the interest of public health has been evolving for a long time. For
convenience, it has been possible to divide the evolution of environmental
health control into four time zone in which time can be assigned. First, the
agricultural revolution following Malthus observation (1750-1850). The period
was characterized by low living standard among the farmers who lived in
overcrowded damped houses, bearing large number of children, and eating poor
diet. There was also marked increase in the number and incidences of diseases
and deaths, poor domestic environment and low life expectancy. Second is the
industrial revolution of 1850-1900, which witnessed the beginning of industrial
pollution as a result of using rudimentary machines and unprocessed toxic
substances for industrial processes. The third is the period between 1900 and
1945, while the fourth is 1945 to the present date.
The initial phases of sanitary
activities centered on keeping human excreta out of food. Indeed, about 10,000
BC, nomadic hunters simply left their wastes and move to another location.
Today, the field covers an imposing spectrum of activities of high technical
and scientific dimension. The trend has been to draw away from activities,
which involve repair, correction and enforcement toward programmes that are
proactive and promotive in nature. Until recently, public health activities
have been based upon negative concept, resulting in programmes designed to
attack things that have gone wrong like isolating infected person, filling
decayed tooth or purifying polluted water. Now, environmental health principles
are focused on maintenance of cleanliness, promoting hygiene practices and
prevention of ill health.
Environmental health programme
(EHP) being perfected today started during the industrial revolution of the 18th
and 19th centuries’ following the mass migration of people from
rural areas to the cities in search of jobs. Living conditions then became poor
and outbreak of several communicable diseases with high morbidity and mortality
became rampant. In 1842, Edwin Chadwick of Great Britain, a Lawyer by
profession spearheaded the Poor Law Commission, which enquired into the
sanitary condition of the labouring classes. The report of the Commission
recognized the association between the general environment of the dreadful
living conditions of the poor and the development of illness. This led to the
enactment of the 1848 Public Health Act, which was borne out of the desire to
control these environmental conditions and abate them. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In Nigeria, the development of
environmental health has had a more challenging history. As far back as the 18
th century the Colonial government took the issue of À preventive health services serious
because of the need to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes, which was a major
killer of the colonial settlers. They introduced the then Sanitary Inspectors
to the Colony of Lagos. The position of the Sanitary Officer was a very top
position in the then Colonial government. That was why the Senior Municipal
Sanitary Officer was statutorily made a member of the Legislative Council in
1913 on the amalgamation of both the Southern and Northern Protectorates of
Nigeria, (Akinyede, 1957).
The present day environmental
health services in Nigeria
started in 1920s, when Dr. Isaac Ladipo Oluwole came back from Britain as a
Public Health Physician. He was the first African Medical Officer of Health
(MOH) in the Lagos Colony, who also pioneered the establishment of School
Health Services using the then Sanitary Attendants. His focus then was on
inspection of schools and vaccination of school children in their school. He
also started the first Nigerian
School of Hygiene at
Yaba, Lagos in
1920 (now School
of Health Technology),
where qualified persons from all over Nigeria were trained as Sanitary
Inspectors. At the end of their training, they obtained the Diploma of the
Royal Institute of Health (R.I.H) London,
which was later changed to Royal Society of Health (R.S.H) Diploma, London. The work of
Sanitary Inspectors was greatly noticed during the outbreak of bubonic plagues
in 1924, when Dr. Oluwole revitalized Port Health Services and sanitary
inspection of ships and port premises. Their impact was much felt during the
control of yaws of 1930 and small pox of 1970s. Since then the development of
environmental health in Nigeria
has continued to increase in terms of the number of practitioners trained and
number of schools training the practitioners.
To a greater extent, the
development of environmental health in Nigeria has been retarded due to
the dominant influence of the medical profession, which assumed superiority and
erroneously annexed every thing health into medical practice. Again unlike in
other countries where people other than physicians initiated some environmental
health control; in Nigeria, environmental health services were initiated by a
physician. This strange marriage existed for so long that it was nearly
impossible to establish or convince any one that environmental health was a
profession. Whereas WHO has recognized environmental health as a profession, it
was totally impossible to say so among policy makers in the health sector in Nigeria.
The development of environmental
health profession started in Britain
in 1877, when the Royal Sanitary Institute was established. Even in Britain,
environmental health was not recognized as a profession till late 1956. In Nigeria
environmental health has existed as an occupation since the days of colonial
administration when the practitioners were known as Inspector of
Nuisance. Despite their contribution to environmental health control
in the 1920s to early 1980s, there was nothing to suggest that this group of
health workers merited professional recognition.
Environmental Health
Officers Registration Council of Nigeria
Environmental health remained
unregulated in Nigeria
over the years until 2002, when the democratic government then decided to grant
it professional recognition through the enactment of the Environmental Health
Officers (Registration, etc) Act 11 of 2002. The Act established the Council
charged with the responsibility of regulating Environmental Health profession
in Nigeria.
The specific objectives of the Council include:
- determining what standards of knowledge and skill are to be
attained by persons seeking to become members of the profession of
Environmental Health and improving those standards from time to time as
circumstances may permit;
- securing in accordance with the provisions of the Act the
establishment and maintenance of a register of persons registered under
the Act as members of the profession and the publication from time to time
of lists of those persons ;
- conducting examinations in the profession and awarding
certificates or diplomas to successful candidates as appropriate and for
such purpose, the Council shall prescribe fees to be paid in respect
thereof, and
- performing the other functions conferred on the council by the
act.
The first Council of eleven
members was inaugurated in March 2004 by Col. Bala Mande (rtd), the then Hon.
Minister of Environment, on behalf of the President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. Since then, the members have dedicated themselves to
the cause with great determination, in the face of daunting challenges to carry
out the mandate of the Council. To this end, the Council opened register in
July 2004, in which members have been registering. It has developed various
curricula for the training of its members and has also been conducting
examinations for new entrants into the profession. The Council is reaching out
to other professional bodies and stakeholders for the proper regulation of the
field and is determined to continue to explore every avenue to ensure that
Nigerians live in an environment devoid of hazards and threats to their lives,
which also increase disease burden, which is currently more than 70%
environment related in the country.
Environmental Health Practice
Environmental health has been
defined recently as comprising of those aspects of human health, including
quality of life, which is determined by physical, biological, chemical, social
and psychological factors in the environment. It also refers to the theory and
practice of assessing, correcting, controlling, and preventing these factors
that can potentially affect, adversely the health of present and future
generations. Environmental health programmes are organized community efforts to
monitor and modify man environment relationships in the interest of better
health.
Environmental Health is a major branch of public health, which plays a significant role
in disease prevention, control and the sustenance of environmental integrity.
It has been defined as ‘the control of all factors in man’s physical
environment which exercise, or may exercise, a deleterious effect on his
physical development, health or survival’. Environmental Health therefore
is a broad concept in public health, which is ‘the science and art of
preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organized
efforts of the society.
The outcome of environmental
health organization is the prevention, detection and control of environmental
hazards which affect human health through the following functions as specified
by World Health Organization:-
- waste management;
- food control and hygiene;
- pest and vector control;
- environmental health control of housing and sanitation;
- epidemiological investigation and control;
- air quality management;
- occupational health and safety;
- water resources management and sanitation;
- noise control;
- protection of recreational environment;
- radiation control and health;
- control of frontiers, air and sea ports and border crossing;
- pollution control and abatement;
- educational activities (health promotion and education);
- promotion and enforcement of environmental health quality
standards;
- collaborative efforts to study the effects of environmental
hazards (research);
- environmental health impact assessment.(EHIA).
Environmental Health
Practitioners
Environmental Health Officer
(EHO) is one of the health professionals whose creation was based on need and
exigencies rather than desire or sentiments. This was the case since 1831 in Britain when
the first set of Sanitarians were put together to control the worst cholera
outbreak in that country. The 1848 Public Health Act provided for the
appointment of Inspector of Nuisance to tackle sanitary issues.
The Inspector of Nuisances as of
then had no qualification, and their main job was to point out all breaches of
sanitary regulations and enforce the byelaws and rules of the council and
health committee. It is worthy of note that in the 1846 Liverpool Sanitary Act,
the Inspector of Nuisance was defined as an officer of the council independent
of the Medical Officer of Health, but by nature of his functions, cooperates
closely with him. It should also be noted that as far back as 1860, Edmund
Parkes, the first Professor of Hygiene developed Military Hygiene into a
science before the Army Medical School became the Royal Sanitary Institute, and
Inspectors of Nuisance have had their recognition not just as health
professional but as key operators in the prevention of diseases.
In 1877, the Royal Sanitary
Institute was introduced with specific training for Nuisance Inspectors. With
the acquired skills and knowledge, their role changed with the change in title
in 1956 to Public Health Officer, and again in 1974 to Environmental Health
Officers. These changes mirrored increasing expertise, as inspector acquire
more knowledge about pollution and other environmental hazards.
In Nigeria, the pattern and
change in nomenclature followed that of Britain; from Sanitary Attendants in
the 1915s to Sanitary Inspectors of 1930s, to Health Superintendents of 1970s,
and to (EHOs) in 1988, which brought the nomenclature in line with the
international recognized and accepted name for the practitioners. The EHOs came
into existence in Nigeria
as a distinct occupational group during the colonial era and they were known as
Sanitary Inspectors. Their duties included sanitary inspection of premises,
control of infectious disease such as yaws, small pox and other such diseases;
disinfections and disinfestations, liaison with other professional groups on
disease control efforts, prosecution of sanitary offender, verification of
notices issued and enforcement of environmental health standards, laws and
regulations.
Sanitary Inspectors were a force
to reckon with in the colonial era in the area of preventive health services in
Nigeria.
This cadre of professionals forms the backbone of environmental health services
worldwide. Their training is related to the environmental health aspect of a
cross-section of development sectors, with emphasis on inter-sectoral liaison,
community participation and health promotion.
EHOs today may be regarded as
the general practitioners of public health since they are in daily contact with
the source of ill health in the community, but their training, qualification
and job evaluation put them at par with any other professional group with
specific responsibility on environmental health control. This is enormous
responsibility, which is capable of lifting the profession and the
practitioners to the sky, can equally bring them to the mud. EHOs therefore
must take the challenge and responsibility for failures in the health status of
our communities as their role in disease prevention, health promotion and
rehabilitation is a direct consequence (positive or negative) of how we fare.
It is the failure of environmental health control programmes that determine
what happen in the other spectrum of the health care delivery system, more so
as over 70% of health problems on Nigeria are environment related.
EHOs are well placed to
participate meaningfully in new approaches to environment and health
management. Presently, there exist a scientific society, the Society for
Environmental Health of Nigeria
and an Environmental Health Officer’s Association of Nigeria, a professional
group whose aim is to protect and promote the welfare of the professionals. The
profession also has sub-professional groups that must work under the
supervision of the EHOs. These cadres include:
- Environmental Health Technicians
- Environmental Health Assistants.
The challenges posed to mankind
by inadequate management of environmental factors, emerging and re-emerging of
infectious diseases in our communities, have necessitated the need to regulate
the profession and strengthen the professionals.
To perform
environmental health functions effectively, the EHO requires: (i) investigative
skill; (ii) analytical skill; (iii) communicative skill; (iv) educative skill;
(v) organizational skill and (vi) attitudinal skill.
EHO activities
include:-
- Administration, inspection, education and regulation in respect
of EH. EHO is a generalist across the range of basic EH activities.
- Surveillance over health related environmental conditions,
including necessary monitoring activities, providing professional advice
and guidance, thereby gaining community confidence and encouraging
participation.
- Acts as a public arbiter of EH standard, maintain close contact
with community. Must at all time be aware of the general environmental
circumstances including new hazards to health in his area of jurisdiction
and what resources are available to tackle them.
- Application of professional standard in his work in relation to
non-professionals involved in EH, and relate professionally with other
health professionals like physician, veterinarian, toxicologist, sanitary
engineer, laboratory scientist, nurse etc.
- Maintenance of effective liaison with other professional
officers who have a contribution in promoting EH eg water resource
manager; waste manager; housing manager; rodent, pest, insect control
officers; and recreational facility manager. EH is much a team concept,
and this must be recognized in any organizational arrangement.
- Carry out the well-established duties of sanitarian, including
inspection of housing and food hygiene, monitoring and control of new
hazards due to intensive industrialization eg pollution by chemical,
biological and physical agents; and preventive role in relation to
environmental hazard to health.
- Understanding the principles and practical knowledge involved
in personal health, animal health, microbiology, provision of water etc.
This will enable him contribute to broad base decisions and to make the
decisions alone. He must understand the environmental aspects of the
problems, which are the concern of other professionals, and contribute to
their solution.
- Plan and coordinate activities between different professional
discipline, agencies, authorities, and maintain continuous link with these
professionals eg physician, microbiologist, chemist, civil engineers,
veterinarian, lawyers, technician and other ancillary personnel and
artisans.
- Act independently in both advisory and enforcement capacities,
exercising self-reliance and initiatives, functioning as a member of
broader team with other professionals in implementing environmental health
programme.
- Interpret legislation, promote and maintain standard and solve
problems, which may come to light.
- Acquaint self with actual or potential environmental hazards
and ensure that appropriate action is taken to deal with them – with the
backing of strong legislation.
- Combine training in public health, toxicology and environmental
sciences to enable him cope with such problems as soil pollution, chemical
pollution, liquid radioactive wastes from industries, pollution of the
home environment due to such products as cosmetics, detergents, paints,
pesticides and gas fuel; heavy metal contaminant eg mercury, barium,
cobalt and other metals, and new problems in food safety such as
irradiation of food.
- EHO within the public service should perform the following
basic functions:-
- improve and protect human
health from environmental hazards,
- enforce environmental health
legislation,
- develop liaison between the
inhabitants and local authority, and between local authority and higher
authority,
- act independently to provide
advice on environmental health matters,
- initiate and implement
advocacy and health promotion and education programmes to promote an
understanding of environmental health principles.
xiv. Operate in a managerial
capacity, due to his range of functions, in collaboration with other
environmental agencies and services
Environmental Health
Practice in Nigeria
History of
Environmental Health
The history of and the
development of Environmental Health are unique and complex in every country of
the world. It is not possible to assign a specific date from which problems
relating to environment started. However, the need to control the environment
in the interest of public health has been evolving for a long time. For
convenience, it has been possible to divide the evolution of environmental
health control into four time zone in which time can be assigned. First, the
agricultural revolution following Malthus observation (1750-1850). The period was
characterized by low living standard among the farmers who lived in overcrowded
damped houses, bearing large number of children, and eating poor diet. There
was also marked increase in the number and incidences of diseases and deaths,
poor domestic environment and low life expectancy. Second is the industrial
revolution of 1850-1900, which witnessed the beginning of industrial pollution
as a result of using rudimentary machines and unprocessed toxic substances for
industrial processes. The third is the period between 1900 and 1945, while the
fourth is 1945 to the present date.
The initial phases of sanitary
activities centered on keeping human excreta out of food. Indeed, about 10,000
BC, nomadic hunters simply left their wastes and move to another location.
Today, the field covers an imposing spectrum of activities of high technical
and scientific dimension. The trend has been to draw away from activities,
which involve repair, correction and enforcement toward programmes that are
proactive and promotive in nature. Until recently, public health activities
have been based upon negative concept, resulting in programmes designed to
attack things that have gone wrong like isolating infected person, filling
decayed tooth or purifying polluted water. Now, environmental health principles
are focused on maintenance of cleanliness, promoting hygiene practices and
prevention of ill health.
Environmental health programme
(EHP) being perfected today started during the industrial revolution of the 18
th and 19 th centuries’ following the mass migration of people from rural areas
to the cities in search of jobs. Living conditions then became poor and
outbreak of several communicable diseases with high morbidity and mortality
became rampant. In 1842, Edwin Chadwick of Great Britain, a Lawyer by
profession spearheaded the Poor Law Commission, which enquired into the
sanitary condition of the labouring classes. The report of the Commission
recognized the association between the general environment of the dreadful
living conditions of the poor and the development of illness. This led to the
enactment of the 1848 Public Health Act, which was borne out of the desire to
control these environmental conditions and abate them. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In Nigeria, the development of
environmental health has had a more challenging history. As far back as the 18
th century the Colonial government took the issue of À preventive health
services serious because of the need to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes,
which was a major killer of the colonial settlers. They introduced the then
Sanitary Inspectors to the Colony of Lagos. The position of the Sanitary
Officer was a very top position in the then Colonial government. That was why
the Senior Municipal Sanitary Officer was statutorily made a member of the
Legislative Council in 1913 on the amalgamation of both the Southern and
Northern Protectorates of Nigeria, (Akinyede, 1957).
The present day environmental
health services in Nigeria
started in 1920s, when Dr. Isaac Ladipo Oluwole came back from Britain as a
Public Health Physician. He was the first African Medical Officer of Health
(MOH) in the Lagos Colony, who also pioneered the establishment of School
Health Services using the then Sanitary Attendants. His focus then was on
inspection of schools and vaccination of school children in their school. He
also started the first Nigerian
School of Hygiene at
Yaba, Lagos in
1920 (now School
of Health Technology),
where qualified persons from all over Nigeria were trained as Sanitary
Inspectors. At the end of their training, they obtained the Diploma of the
Royal Institute of Health (R.I.H) London,
which was later changed to Royal Society of Health (R.S.H) Diploma, London. The work of
Sanitary Inspectors was greatly noticed during the outbreak of bubonic plagues
in 1924, when Dr. Oluwole revitalized Port Health Services and sanitary
inspection of ships and port premises. Their impact was much felt during the
control of yaws of 1930 and small pox of 1970s. Since then the development of
environmental health in Nigeria
has continued to increase in terms of the number of practitioners trained and
number of schools training the practitioners.
To a greater extent, the
development of environmental health in Nigeria has been retarded due to
the dominant influence of the medical profession, which assumed superiority and
erroneously annexed every thing health into medical practice. Again unlike in
other countries where people other that physicians initiated some environmental
health control; in Nigeria,
environmental health services was initiated by a physician. This strange
marriage existed for so long that it was nearly impossible to established or
convince any one that environmental health was a profession. Whereas WHO has
recognized environmental health as a profession, it was totally impossible to
say so among policy makers in the health sector in Nigeria.
The development of environmental
health profession started in Britain
in 1877, when the Royal Sanitary Institute was established. Even in Britain,
environmental health was not recognized as a profession till late 1956. In Nigeria
environmental health has existed as an occupation since the days of colonial
administration when the practitioners were known as Inspector of
Nuisance. Despite their contribution to environmental health control
in the 1920s to early 1980s, there was nothing to suggest that this group of
health workers merited professional recognition.
Environmental Health
Officers Registration Council of Nigeria
Environmental health remained
unregulated in Nigeria
over the years until 2002, when the democratic government then decided to grant
it professional recognition through the enactment of the Environmental Health
Officers (Registration, etc) Act 11 of 2002. The Act established the Council
charged with the responsibility of regulating Environmental Health profession
in Nigeria.
The specific objectives of the Council include:
- determining what standards of knowledge and skill are to be
attained by persons seeking to become members of the profession of
Environmental Health and improving those standards from time to time as
circumstances may permit;
- securing in accordance with the provisions of the Act the
establishment and maintenance of a register of persons registered under
the Act as members of the profession and the publication from time to time
of lists of those persons ;
- conducting examinations in the profession and awarding
certificates or diplomas to successful candidates as appropriate and for
such purpose, the Council shall prescribe fees to be paid in respect
thereof, and
- performing the other functions conferred on the council by the
act.
The first Council of eleven
members was inaugurated in March 2004 by Col. Bala Mande (rtd), the then Hon.
Minister of Environment, on behalf of the President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. Since then, the members have dedicated themselves to
the cause with great determination, in the face of daunting challenges to carry
out the mandate of the Council. To this end, the Council opened register in
July 2004, in which members have been registering. It has developed various
curricula for the training of its members and has also been conducting
examinations for new entrants into the profession. The Council is reaching out
to other professional bodies and stakeholders for the proper regulation of the
field and is determined to continue to explore every avenue to ensure that
Nigerians live in an environment devoid of hazards and threats to their lives,
which also increase disease burden, which is currently more than 70%
environment related in the country.
Environmental Health Practice
Environmental health has been
defined recently as comprising of those aspects of human health, including
quality of life, which is determined by physical, biological, chemical, social
and psychological factors in the environment. It also refers to the theory and
practice of assessing, correcting, controlling, and preventing these factors
that can potentially affect, adversely the health of present and future
generations. Environmental health programmes are organized community efforts to
monitor and modify man environment relationships in the interest of better
health.
Environmental Health is a major branch of public health, which plays a significant role
in disease prevention, control and the sustenance of environmental integrity.
It has been defined as ‘the control of all factors in man’s physical
environment which exercise, or may exercise, a deleterious effect on his
physical development, health or survival’. Environmental Health therefore
is a broad concept in public health, which is ‘the science and art of
preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organized
efforts of the society.
The outcome of environmental
health organization is the prevention, detection and control of environmental
hazards which affect human health through the following functions as specified
by World Health Organization:-
- waste management;
- food control and hygiene;
- pest and vector control;
- environmental health control of housing and sanitation;
- epidemiological investigation and control;
- air quality management;
- occupational health and safety;
- water resources management and sanitation;
- noise control;
- protection of recreational environment;
- radiation control and health;
- control of frontiers, air and sea ports and border crossing;
- pollution control and abatement;
- educational activities (health promotion and education);
- promotion and enforcement of environmental health quality
standards;
- collaborative efforts to study the effects of environmental
hazards (research);
- environmental health impact assessment.(EHIA).
Environmental Health
Practitioners
Environmental Health Officer
(EHO) is one of the health professionals whose creation was based on need and
exigencies rather than desire or sentiments. This was the case since 1831 in Britain when
the first set of Sanitarians were put together to control the worst cholera
outbreak in that country. The 1848 Public Health Act provided for the
appointment of Inspector of Nuisance to tackle sanitary issues.
The Inspector of Nuisances as of
then had no qualification, and their main job was to point out all breaches of
sanitary regulations and enforce the byelaws and rules of the council and
health committee. It is worthy of note that in the 1846 Liverpool Sanitary Act,
the Inspector of Nuisance was defined as an officer of the council independent
of the Medical Officer of Health, but by nature of his functions, cooperates
closely with him. It should also be noted that as far back as 1860, Edmund
Parkes, the first Professor of Hygiene developed Military Hygiene into a
science before the Army Medical School became the Royal Sanitary Institute, and
Inspectors of Nuisance have had their recognition not just as health
professional but as key operators in the prevention of diseases.
In 1877, the Royal Sanitary
Institute was introduced with specific training for Nuisance Inspectors. With
the acquired skills and knowledge, their role changed with the change in title
in 1956 to Public Health Officer, and again in 1974 to Environmental Health
Officers. These changes mirrored increasing expertise, as inspector acquire
more knowledge about pollution and other environmental hazards.
In Nigeria, the pattern and
change in nomenclature followed that of Britain; from Sanitary Attendants in
the 1915s to Sanitary Inspectors of 1930s, to Health Superintendents of 1970s,
and to (EHOs) in 1988, which brought the nomenclature in line with the
international recognized and accepted name for the practitioners. The EHOs came
into existence in Nigeria
as a distinct occupational group during the colonial era and they were known as
Sanitary Inspectors. Their duties included sanitary inspection of premises,
control of infectious disease such as yaws, small pox and other such diseases;
disinfections and disinfestations, liaison with other professional groups on
disease control efforts, prosecution of sanitary offender, verification of
notices issued and enforcement of environmental health standards, laws and
regulations.
Sanitary Inspectors were a force
to reckon with in the colonial era in the area of preventive health services in
Nigeria.
This cadre of professionals forms the backbone of environmental health services
worldwide. Their training is related to the environmental health aspect of a
cross-section of development sectors, with emphasis on inter-sectoral liaison,
community participation and health promotion.
EHOs today may be regarded as the
general practitioners of public health since they are in daily contact with the
source of ill health in the community, but their training, qualification and
job evaluation put them at par with any other professional group with specific
responsibility on environmental health control. This is enormous
responsibility, which is capable of lifting the profession and the
practitioners to the sky, can equally bring them to the mud. EHOs therefore
must take the challenge and responsibility for failures in the health status of
our communities as their role in disease prevention, health promotion and
rehabilitation is a direct consequence (positive or negative) of how we fare.
It is the failure of environmental health control programmes that determine
what happen in the other spectrum of the health care delivery system, more so
as over 70% of health problems on Nigeria are environment related.
EHOs are well placed to
participate meaningfully in new approaches to environment and health
management. Presently, there exist a scientific society, the Society for
Environmental Health of Nigeria
and an Environmental Health Officer’s Association of Nigeria, a professional
group whose aim is to protect and promote the welfare of the professionals. The
profession also has sub-professional groups that must work under the
supervision of the EHOs. These cadres include:
- Environmental Health Technicians
- Environmental Health Assistants.
The challenges posed to mankind
by inadequate management of environmental factors, emerging and re-emerging of
infectious diseases in our communities, have necessitated the need to regulate
the profession and strengthen the professionals.
To perform
environmental health functions effectively, the EHO requires: (i) investigative
skill; (ii) analytical skill; (iii) communicative skill; (iv) educative skill;
(v) organizational skill and (vi) attitudinal skill.
EHO activities
include:-
- Administration, inspection, education and regulation in respect
of EH. EHO is a generalist across the range of basic EH activities.
- Surveillance over health related environmental conditions,
including necessary monitoring activities, providing professional advice
and guidance, thereby gaining community confidence and encouraging
participation.
- Acts as a public arbiter of EH standard, maintain close contact
with community. Must at all time be aware of the general environmental
circumstances including new hazards to health in his area of jurisdiction
and what resources are available to tackle them.
- Application of professional standard in his work in relation to
non-professionals involved in EH, and relate professionally with other
health professionals like physician, veterinarian, toxicologist, sanitary
engineer, laboratory scientist, nurse etc.
- Maintenance of effective liaison with other professional
officers who have a contribution in promoting EH eg water resource
manager; waste manager; housing manager; rodent, pest, insect control
officers; and recreational facility manager. EH is much a team concept,
and this must be recognized in any organizational arrangement.
- Carry out the well-established duties of sanitarian, including
inspection of housing and food hygiene, monitoring and control of new
hazards due to intensive industrialization eg pollution by chemical,
biological and physical agents; and preventive role in relation to
environmental hazard to health.
- Understanding the principles and practical knowledge involved
in personal health, animal health, microbiology, provision of water etc.
This will enable him contribute to broad base decisions and to make the
decisions alone. He must understand the environmental aspects of the
problems, which are the concern of other professionals, and contribute to
their solution.
- Plan and coordinate activities between different professional
discipline, agencies, authorities, and maintain continuous link with these
professionals eg physician, microbiologist, chemist, civil engineers,
veterinarian, lawyers, technician and other ancillary personnel and
artisans.
- Act independently in both advisory and enforcement capacities,
exercising self-reliance and initiatives, functioning as a member of
broader team with other professionals in implementing environmental health
programme.
- Interpret legislation, promote and maintain standard and solve
problems, which may come to light.
- Acquaint self with actual or potential environmental hazards
and ensure that appropriate action is taken to deal with them – with the
backing of strong legislation.
- Combine training in public health, toxicology and environmental
sciences to enable him cope with such problems as soil pollution, chemical
pollution, liquid radioactive wastes from industries, pollution of the
home environment due to such products as cosmetics, detergents, paints,
pesticides and gas fuel; heavy metal contaminant eg mercury, barium,
cobalt and other metals, and new problems in food safety such as
irradiation of food.
- EHO within the public service should perform the following
basic functions:-
- improve and protect human
health from environmental hazards,
- enforce environmental health
legislation,
- develop liaison between the
inhabitants and local authority, and between local authority and higher
authority,
- act independently to provide
advice on environmental health matters,
- initiate and implement
advocacy and health promotion and education programmes to promote an
understanding of environmental health principles.
xiv. Operate in a managerial
capacity, due to his range of functions, in collaboration with other
environmental agencies and services
