Environmental Health

- Qualify the student to identify the most important environmental factors related to the health-disease process.
- Promote in the student the recognition and assessment of the relationships between environmental factors and the health of the community.
- Raising the awareness of the students on the need and importance of health protection to improve the well-being and the quality of life.

Lectures (9 hours):
1. Environmental health. Inequalities in environmental health.
2. Risks associated with food. Food safety.
3. Environmental pollution: air, water, soil.

Interactive teaching (12 hours):
Teamwork and visits to different centres of interest

Tutorials (3 hours)

Diaz J, Linares C. Las causas de la contaminación atmosférica y los contaminantes atmosféricos más importantes. En: DKV Salud. Estado de la Cuestión: Contaminación atmosférica y Salud. Barcelona: DKV; 2010 Disponible en: https://dkvsalud.com/es/instituto/observatorio/contaminacion-atmosferic…
European Environmental Agency. Air quality in Europe — 2022. Disponible en: https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/air-quality-in-europe-2022
Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica. Informe de la calidad del aire en España 2022. https://www.miteco.gob.es/content/dam/miteco/es/calidad-y-evaluacion-am…
Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica. Perfil Ambiental de España 2022. Disponible en:
https://www.miteco.gob.es/content/dam/miteco/es/ministerio/servicios/in…
Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente. Programa estatal de prevención de residuos 2014-2020. Disponible en: https://www.miteco.gob.es/content/dam/miteco/es/calidad-y-evaluacion-am…
Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente. Plan estatal marco de gestión de residuos (PEMAR) 2016-2022. Disponible en: https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/calidad-y-evaluacion-ambiental/planes-y-es…
Observatorio de la Sostenibilidad. Disponible en: https://www.observatoriosostenibilidad.com/
Red Española de Ciudades Saludables. Disponible en: http://recs.es/
Vida sostenible. Disponible en: http://www.vidasostenible.org/
Xunta de Galicia. Consellería de Medio Ambiente, Territorio e Vivenda. Plan de xestión de residuos urbanos de Galicia (PXRUG) 2010-2020. Disponible en: https://sirga.xunta.gal/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=190428&nam…
Ministerio de Sanidad, Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico. Plan Estratégico de Salud y Medioambiente 2022 – 2026. Disponible en: https://www.sanidad.gob.es/ciudadanos/pesma/docs/241121_PESMA.pdf

- Students will know how to apply the acquired knowledge and how to solve problems in new or unfamiliar environments within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to Public Health.
- Students will be able to integrate knowledge and face the complexity of formulating judgments based on information that, being incomplete or limited, includes reflections on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and decisions.
- Students will know how to communicate their conclusions (and the knowledge and the final reasons that sustain them) to specialized and non-specialized audiences in a clear and unambiguous way.
- Students will possess the learning skills that will allow them to continue studying in a way that will be mainly self-directed or autonomous.
Specific competences of the course:
- Acquire a broad vision of the concept of health and of the main models and health systems.
- Identify the risk factors that can affect the health and understand how they act.
- Recognize and assess the relationships between environmental factors and the health of the community.
- Being able to synthesize the available scientific evidence in a rigorous and transparent way and transfer the result in order to improve the health care.

In the expositive sessions, the instructor will present the topics highlighting the most relevant and current aspects, encouraging student participation at all times. In addition, the tools provided by the Moodle platform of the virtual campus (lessons, assignments, etc.) and/or Microsoft Teams will be used.

In the interactive sessions, the students will visit different centres related to the contents of the subject. Prior to the interactive sessions, the instructor will communicate the objectives of the sessions, will provide the bibliography, and will organise the work in different groups to encourage teamwork. The student must have previously worked on the subject.

The student will carry out a comprehensive reading of the class materials and the recommended bibliography, and will reflect on the contents of the subject.

To pass the course, the student must obtain a minimum score of 5 points (sum of the final exam and the work in the interactive sessions).
- Final written test (70% of the final grade). This test will measure the theoretical contents acquired, which may include multiple-choice questions, short question or topic. It is necessary that the grade obtained in the final test exceeds 50% of the maximum corresponding to this test, in order to be able to evaluate the work of the interactive sessions. For multiple-choice questions, the probability of getting a correct answer by chance shall be taken into account.
- Work of the interactive sessions (weight of 30% in the final grade).

Students who do not pass the subject at the first opportunity will keep the mark for the interactive sessions' work. They will only have to take the final exam.

The student will devote, at least, 45 hours to: study the topics presented in the lectures, do the bibliographical search and prepare the interactive teaching.

The preparation of the course material does not present special difficulties.
The attendance of lectures and the active participation in the interactive sessions, together with the dedication of the necessary time to prepare the theoretical and interactive topics, is enough to pass the course.

In cases of fraudulent exercises or tests, the “Normativa de avaliación do rendemento académico dos estudantes e de revisión de cualificacións” will be applied.