Recognising the Role of Environmental Health in the Public Health Fraternity: A South African Perspective

Abstract

Insanity is repeating the same mistakes but expecting different results. International research argued that environmental health should be banned from PHC (Primary Health Care). The outcry for holism in health care and integration of environment and health issues to prevent ill health, beyond treatment, promotion and secondary level of prevention continues for ages but it remains to be compartmentalised and relegated when considering the thrust in government’s policies, programmes and resource allocations, in particular as far as EH is concerned. Most countries continue to focus on the secondary level of PHC (Primary Health Care), which is curative in nature. All over the world health care is dominated by allopathic medicine that monopolizes public health to the detriment of non-allopathic professionals and therefore not optimizing the prevention of the burden of diseases suitably at source. This result in a lack of appropriate integration of relevant departments and programmes that should support preventative health.