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Proceedings of the International Conference on Environment & Human Health: Challenges & Opportunities in the 21st Century

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 8941

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Sam Lau

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Guest Editor

Division of Applied Science, College of International Education, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Interests: environmental sustainability; environmental education; environment and human health; health literacy and communication
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Kevin Dadaczynski

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Guest Editor

1. Department of Nursing and Health Science, Fulda University of Applied Sciences, 36037 Fulda, Germany
2. Center for Applied Health Science, Leuphana University Lueneburg, 21335 Lueneburg, Germany
Interests: health promotion and education with special interest in educational settings; digital public health and health literacy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are organizing a Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH), entitled “Proceedings of The International Conference on Environment and Human Health: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century”, to report research evidence shared virtually on 18 to 19 August 2022 (https://hkbusce-internationalconference-ehh.info/).

The Conference focuses on the latest research on the nexus of the environment and human health, highlighting the interdependence and interactions between human and the environment and their importance in affecting environmental sustainability and human health and wellbeing. It fosters knowledge exchange between academics, researchers, professionals, practitioners, and policymakers regarding the complex connections between the environment and human health and promotes cross-discipline understanding, evidence-based actions, and practices in the areas of human health and environmental health. The conference abstracts will address several key areas including:

1. Biodiversity, Nature, and Human Health;
2. Climate Change, Environment Pollution, and Human Health;
3. Health Literacy and Education, and Global Health;
4. Sports, Exercise, Nutrition, and Human Health;
5. Insights of COVID-19 and Environmental Human Health.

Dr. Sam Lau
Prof. Dr. Kevin Dadaczynski
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

environment
health and well-being
sustainability
biodiversity
climate change
global health
health literacy
COVID-19
nature conservation
mental health
nature connection

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3301 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantitative Assessment of Full Size Microplastics in Bottled and Tap Water Samples in Hong Kong

by Yuet-Tung Tse, Sidney Man-Ngai Chan and Eric Tung-Po Sze

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(20), 13432; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013432 - 18 Oct 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3735

Abstract

Human exposure to microplastics (MPs) through drinking water has drawn serious concern recently because of the potential adverse health effects. Although there are reports on the occurrence of MPs in bottled water, little is known about the abundance of a whole spectrum of MPs with sizes ranging from 1 µm to 5 mm due to the restrictions of conventional MPs detection methods. Some studies using micro-Raman spectroscopy can achieve MPs with a size of <10 µm, however, quantitation of all MPs was extremely time consuming and only a small portion (<10%) of MPs would be analyzed. The present study quantified MPs from nine brands of bottled water using fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry for MPs with a size of ≥50 µm and a size of <50 µm, respectively. The average abundance of MPs with a size of ≥50 µm in bottled water samples was found ranging from 8–50 particles L⁻¹, while MPs with a size of <50 µm were found to be 1570–17,817 particles L⁻¹, where the MPs abundance from mineral water samples were significantly more than distilled and spring water samples. The modal size and shape of MPs were found at 1 µm and fragments, respectively. Besides, three tap water samples obtained locally were analyzed and compared with the bottled water samples, where less MPs were found in tap water samples. In addition, contamination of MPs from bottle and cap and interference by addition of mineral salts were studied, where no significant difference from all these processes to the control sample was found, suggesting the major contamination of MPs was from other manufacturing processes. Estimated daily intake (EDI) of MPs increased substantially when data of small MPs are included, suggesting that previously reports on exposure of MPs from drinking water might be underestimated, as only large MPs were considered. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Proceedings of the International Conference on Environment & Human Health: Challenges & Opportunities in the 21st Century)

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17 pages, 408 KiB

Open AccessArticle

by Sam S. S. Lau, Eric N. Y. Shum, Jackie O. T. Man, Ethan T. H. Cheung, Padmore Adusei Amoah, Angela Y. M. Leung, Kevin Dadaczynski and Orkan Okan

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12790; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912790 - 06 Oct 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2383

Abstract

To date, we know little about COVID-19-related health literacy among school leaders, particularly in East Asia. The present study aimed to assess the level of COVID-19-related health literacy and associated factors (vaccine hesitancy, self-endangering behaviour, and work satisfaction) among school leaders in Hong Kong. A cross-sectional study of 259 school leaders was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic between April 2021 and February 2022. COVID-19-related health literacy using HLS-COVID-Q22, three subscales of self-endangering work behaviour scales (i.e., “extensification of work”, “intensification of work” and “quality reduction”), and two dimensions of Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) (i.e., psychosomatic complaints and exhaustion) were used. The study employed independent sample t-test, ANOVA, and multilinear regression models. The findings show that more than half (53.7%) of school leaders had insufficient health literacy. Participants with insufficient health literacy scored significantly higher in the following factors: exhaustion related to work situation (p = 0.029), psychosomatic complaints (p < 0.001), attitude about vaccination (i.e., less agree with vaccination) (p < 0.001), level of informing on COVID-19 related information (i.e., felt less informed) (p < 0.001), and level of confusion about COVID-19-related information (i.e., felt more confused) (p < 0.001). In a linear regression model predicting attitude about coronavirus vaccination, age (β, −0.188, 95% CI, −0.024, −0.005, p = 0.002) and health literacy (β, −0.395, 95% CI, −0.716, −0.361, p < 0.001) were the negative predictors, F(5, 214) = 11.859, p < 0.001. For the linear regression model adjusted for sex and age for predicting health literacy, the model was insignificant. Despite being a highly educated group, this study reveals that one in two Hong Kong school leaders have insufficient health literacy. Inadequate health literacy was strongly associated with a negative attitude about vaccination, low information, and confusion about COVID-19-related information. Additionally, insufficient health literacy was associated with the two secondary symptoms of burnouts. The study highlights an urgent need to develop intervention programmes to promote the COVID-19-specific as well as overall health literacy of the school leaders. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Proceedings of the International Conference on Environment & Human Health: Challenges & Opportunities in the 21st Century)

11 pages, 606 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bushfire Smoke and Children’s Health—Exploring a Communication Gap

by Erin I. Walsh, Ginny Sargent, Burcu Cevik-Compiegne, Michelle Roberts, Nicola Palfrey, Laura Gooyers-Bourke, Sotiris Vardoulakis and Karima Laachir

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12436; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912436 - 29 Sep 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1940

Abstract

The “Black Summer” bushfires of 2019/2020 in Australia generated smoke that persisted for over three months, mainly affecting Eastern Australia. Most communication strategies focused on the fire itself, revealing a knowledge gap in effective communication of the impact of bushfire smoke on health, especially for children and those living in non-English speaking minority groups. To address this, semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken with sixteen adults with caring (n = 11) or educational (n = 5) responsibilities for primary-school aged children (5–12 years, with some also having children up to 16 years) who had direct experience of the “Black Summer” bushfires. Overall, 43% (n = 7) of the sample spoke English as a first language, 25% (n = 4) spoke Turkish, with the remainder speaking Persian, Arabic, and Spanish. Thematic inductive qualitative content analysis revealed predominant themes of the role of parents and caregivers as conduits and curators of information. Air quality apps were the most common source of information. Language barriers and the lack of child-friendly methods of communication were highlighted as particular challenges. This qualitative study provides evidence for future development of communication strategies to better serve culturally and linguistically diverse individuals and the children in their care. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Proceedings of the International Conference on Environment & Human Health: Challenges & Opportunities in the 21st Century)

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