TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental health in China
T2 - progress towards clean air and safe water
AU - Zhang, Junfeng
AU - Mauzerall, Denise Leonore
AU - Zhu, Tong
AU - Liang, Song
AU - Ezzati, Majid
AU - Remais, Justin V.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank The China Medical Board for facilitating development of the manuscript, and five anonymous referees whose comments greatly improved the article. JZ is in part supported by a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center Grant ( #P30ES 05022 ) awarded to the University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey and Rutgers University. DLM is supported by Princeton University. TZ is in part supported by a grant from the Chinese Natural Science Foundation ( 20637020 ). SL is in part supported by a National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant ( R01 AI068854 ) to University of California, Berkeley. JVR is supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Science Foundation Ecology of Infectious Disease Program (grant 0622743 ) and Emory University's Global Health Institute.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Environmental risk factors, especially air and water pollution, are a major source of morbidity and mortality in China. Biomass fuel and coal are burned for cooking and heating in almost all rural and many urban households, resulting in severe indoor air pollution that contributes greatly to the burden of disease. Many communities lack access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and thus the risk of waterborne disease in many regions is high. At the same time, China is rapidly industrialising with associated increases in energy use and industrial waste. Although economic growth from industrialisation has improved health and quality of life indicators, it has also increased the release of chemical toxins into the environment and the rate of environmental disasters, with severe effects on health. Air quality in China's cities is among the worst in the world, and industrial water pollution has become a widespread health hazard. Moreover, emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gases from energy use are rapidly increasing. Global climate change will inevitably intensify China's environmental health troubles, with potentially catastrophic outcomes from major shifts in temperature and precipitation. Facing the overlap of traditional, modern, and emerging environmental dilemmas, China has committed substantial resources to environmental improvement. The country has the opportunity to address its national environmental health challenges and to assume a central role in the international effort to improve the global environment.
AB - Environmental risk factors, especially air and water pollution, are a major source of morbidity and mortality in China. Biomass fuel and coal are burned for cooking and heating in almost all rural and many urban households, resulting in severe indoor air pollution that contributes greatly to the burden of disease. Many communities lack access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and thus the risk of waterborne disease in many regions is high. At the same time, China is rapidly industrialising with associated increases in energy use and industrial waste. Although economic growth from industrialisation has improved health and quality of life indicators, it has also increased the release of chemical toxins into the environment and the rate of environmental disasters, with severe effects on health. Air quality in China's cities is among the worst in the world, and industrial water pollution has become a widespread health hazard. Moreover, emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gases from energy use are rapidly increasing. Global climate change will inevitably intensify China's environmental health troubles, with potentially catastrophic outcomes from major shifts in temperature and precipitation. Facing the overlap of traditional, modern, and emerging environmental dilemmas, China has committed substantial resources to environmental improvement. The country has the opportunity to address its national environmental health challenges and to assume a central role in the international effort to improve the global environment.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60062-1
DO - 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60062-1
M3 - Review article
C2 - 20346817
AN - SCOPUS:77949856325
SN - 0140-6736
VL - 375
SP - 1110
EP - 1119
JO - The Lancet
JF - The Lancet
IS - 9720
ER -