ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the connections among the environment, ecology, and human health. It places the discussion of global health in an ecological context. The concept of ecological balance underscores the theme of the interconnectedness of human health. Human health has always been inseparable from the health of the ecosystems in which people live. With globalization, the fact that humans live in a global ecosystem becomes a more pressing reality. Accordingly, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines environmental health as all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all related factors impacting behaviours that have the potential to affect health. The chapter concludes with a discussion of two issues that illustrates the ecological foundations of human health namely water, the environment, global health, and climate change as one of the most significant contemporary challenges to human health at a global level.
