During the journey of human race, very few branches of science have influenced the wellbeing of individuals and communities as much as EH - positively and negatively! 

But what does EH mean?

Professionals, especially when they are in a mood to mob the quintessence of EH, put it simply as, "Everything under the sun and a roof ultimately involves EH."  

Quite likely!  

According to a definition provided by the World health Organization (http://www.who.int), the EH: 

"...addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the related factors impacting behaviours. It encompasses the assessment and control of those environmental factors that can potentially affect health. It is targeted towards preventing disease and creating health-supportive environments. This definition excludes behaviour not related to environment, as well as behaviour related to the social and cultural environment, and genetics." 

In general, the field of EH involves a variety of areas, which often overlap with each other and merging with multidisciplinary elements of related fields such as public health.  

The mainstream areas usually include following (not in the order of importance): 

-          Environmental hygiene, sanitation, disinfection and decontamination

-          Vector control

-          Air quality (ambient and indoor, including smoking prohibition)

-          Quality of water used for drinking and domestic purposes, recreational activities, and open cooling/aerosol generating systems

-          Food and personal hygiene

-          Waste and hazardous materials management

-          Noise pollution

-          Littering and spitting in public places

-          Exposure to electromagnetic field and radiations

-          Port health controls

-          etc. 

Emerging areas include:  

-          EH security

-          EH economics

-          etc.