The Impact of Air Pollution on Health

The Impact of Air Pollution on Health
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The Impact of Air Pollution on Health
Introduction
The quality of air that humans breathe has significant effects on their health. Notably, air pollution has an adverse impact on people's health, which most individuals do not take it seriously. When people are warned not to pollute the environment, some might think it is a punishment or that it is for the benefit of others. However, the reality comes out when individuals develop, or someone close to them becomes sick due to bad quality of air. Nurses do not only have the responsibility to take care of sick people. The Code of Ethics for Nurses, Principle 9.4, allows caregivers to advocate for programs, practices, and policies within the healthcare environment that repair, sustain, and maintain the natural world (American Nurses Association, 2015). In that light, nurses should be in the frontline to eliminate human activities that cause air pollution. Air pollution affects humans' health adversely, and nurses should inform individuals how to prevent this problem to lead healthy and happier lives.
Summary of Literature Review
Nurses should ensure that the rapidly changing climate does not define the health of children born. In some instances, people might ignore it, and others are not aware that the air quality exposed to their children has significant effects on their health. As such, individuals who engage in activities that damage atmospheric gases' circulation do not perceive as if they are affecting human health adversely (Watts et al., 2019). Such people might keep blaming climate change without knowing that they are significant contributors to air pollution. Since nurses understand how good air quality is important to the proper functioning of the human body, these health professionals should not remain silent as they watch people contaminate the air. Watts et al. (2019) depict that caregivers hold crucial responsibilities, among them is to ensure that humans do not engage in things, such as polluting the air, which might have adverse effects on the health of people today or in the future (Watts et al., 2019). As a result, nurses should be campaigners against air pollution to foster healthy lifestyles.
Caregivers understand better the consequences of air pollution and how it affects humans negatively. In that case, they should not focus on taking care and treating sick individuals alone without preventing environmental conditions that cause complications to human health. Based on a 2019 study by the World Health Organization (WHO), exposure to air pollution leads to numerous adverse health outcomes. Indeed, it increases the likelihood of lung cancer, respiratory infections, and heart diseases (World Health Organization, 2019). Both long-term and short-term exposure to air contaminants have negative impacts on human health. The people who are sick and live in places with air pollution are the ones who encounter dire consequences since their bodies lack clean air to facilitate healing. All sectors and professionals should join hands to eradicate air pollution. In particular, nurses should not be left behind since they understand well how bad air quality can cause various diseases. For example, some people might not know that the particulate matter or particles found in the air, such as dirt, soot, dust, liquid droplets, and smoke, are harmful to their health (World Health Organization, 2019). If nurses try to show the adverse consequences of air pollution, many individuals might change their behavior and avoid activities that cause air contamination.
Effects of Air Pollution on Health
Air pollutants consist of gases, liquids, and solids that are harmful to people and other living creatures. Ioannis Manisalidis, Agathangelos Stavropoulos, Elisavet Stavropoulou, and Eugenia Bezirtzoglou portray that particulate matters might be small that they can penetrate the human respiratory system when inhaled. These substances might cause cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer, central nervous system issues, and reproductive dysfunction (Manisalidis, Stavropoulou, Stavropoulou, & Bezirtzoglou, 2020). In other words, air pollution can make people who are born healthy acquire chronic diseases that they will live with for the rest of their lives. That is why people should not take it for granted when they lead healthy lives and should understand that the quality of the air they breathe has significant contributions to their health. Examples of air pollutants that are harmful to humans include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), sulfur dioxide, dioxins, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) nitrogen oxide. Carbon monoxide causes direct poisoning when individuals breathe it at high levels.
Additionally, heavy metals are poisonous to people when they are absorbed into the body after being inhaled. Some of the illnesses that might occur when the above air pollutants are inhaled include asthma, cutaneous diseases, cardiovascular complications, nervous system dysfunction, bronchiolitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (Manisalidis, Stavropo...