December 12th, 2017
Environments we build for ourselves influence our general satisfaction with all aspects of life, including recreation, culture, values, and, importantly, personal health. Healthy People 2010 points out that life expectancy in the United States has increased by approximately 30 years since 1900. It is estimated that only 7 of those years can be attributed to healthcare, the remaining increase in longevity is related to immunizations and to improved environmental conditions. Dr Richard Jackson, former director of the National Center for Environmental Health, and Chris Kochtitzky of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) summarized the point succinctly, “Public health professionals need to begin to see the built environment as having as much ability to influence public health as vaccines or water quality.”