Describe the process of risk assessment for public health as it ...

[student77]

Describe the process of risk assessment for public health as it was recently carried out by WHO. What is a DALY?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

What do the letters in the acronym HIPPO stand for? What is an example of each?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[Sophiapenny]

Answer to Question 1

WHO recently moved risk assessment from being a function of environmental regulation to looking at all of the risk factors commonly known to be responsible for poor health and mortality and then asking the question, Of all the disease burden in this population, how much could be caused by this (particular) risk?' Certain risk factors were chosen for special attention, on the basis of the following criteria: potential global impact, high likelihood of causality, modifiability, and availability of data.
A DALY is the disability adjusted life year. (O)ne DALY represents the loss of one healthy year of a person's life. This measure, now in common usage in the global health community, assess the burden of disease in terms of life lost due to premature mortality and time lived with a disability.

Answer to Question 2

HIPPO stands for habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, population, and overexploitation. An example of habitat destruction can be seen at the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic (see Figure 6-7). Numerous examples of invasive species may be given. Examples described in this chapter include the brown tree snake, Saltcedar, and Brazilian pepper. Pollution, like that seen in the Mississippi River, can lead to a loss of biodiversity. In this example, nutrient pollution leads to a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. The overpopulation of humans displaces wildlife. Overexploitation was seen in the example of the puffins, which were overharvested until they were on the brink of extinction.