Discussion
Patterns of environmental pollution and of the diseases caused by pollution vary greatly from country to country. Almost every country has its own story concerning the environmental pollution. The critical factors responsible for these sharp differences includes:
National income and level of development.
High-Income Countries
The principal pediatric diseases seen today in HICs are chronic, non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
These diseases include birth defects—a leading cause of infant death in the United States and asthma, which has been increasing in prevalence since 1980 In addition, the reported prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders, including dyslexia, mental retardation, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and autism,
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These include the devastating events such as the Bhopal disaster in India, and chronic, slowly unfolding tragedies such as the exposure of more than 1 million people to chrysotile asbestos in China, South and Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. The new reality in global health is that NCDs are becoming major health problems in all countries around the world. In LMICs, especially those that are undergoing rapid industrialization, high risk of NCDs results in a double burden of disease, adding new threats to such age-old problems as infectious disease, inadequate clean drinking water, and poor …show more content…
Global Climate Change and Health and cost of population
Global climate change could further exacerbate health risks from toxic environmental exposures, especially in LMICs, by increasing concentrations of many chemicals in water, air, and sediment , as well as by imposing additional stress to individuals’ immune, endocrine, and neurological systems that may leave some even more sensitive to the pollutants they encounter
The diseases caused by pollution impose great economic costs on countries around the world—direct medical costs, opportunity costs reflecting the diminished productivity of populations damaged by pollution, and costs to health care systems.
The widespread pollution in a number of rapidly industrializing LMICs can result in adverse health effects, including damage to the brains, lungs, and other organ systems, for large numbers of