The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #74093

Richard J. Jackson, MD, PhD, National Center for Environmental Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, MS F-29, Atlanta, GA 30341, 770-488-7025, rxj4@cdc.gov

This presentation will discuss various health consequences of the built environment - housing, roads, sprawl, air quality, water – as well as unplanned and unmanaged developments. Physical health outcomes, such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, and depression, are diseases that can be moderated by how we design and build our human environment. There is a connection, for example, between the fact that the urban sprawl we live with daily makes no room for sidewalks or bike paths and the fact that we are an overweight, heart disease-ridden society. We must be alert to the health benefits - less stress, lower blood pressure, overall improved physical and mental health - that can result when people live and work in accessible, safe, well-designed, thoughtful structures and landscapes.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of this presentation, particpants will be able to recognize how characteristics of the built environment – housing, roads, sprawl, air quality, water – affect human health.

Keywords: Environmental Health, Urban Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.