University of Detroit Mercy is celebrating World Health Day with a two-part online event designed to shine a light on the environmental causes of major health issues around the world.
“Our Planet, Our Health” begins at 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, with a presentation from Detroit Mercy Law Associate Professor Nick Schroeck, whose expertise is on environmental law. As a post-industrial city, Detroit’s pressing environmental concerns include exposure to above-normal pollutants, a crumbling infrastructure with limited resources to address it, eroded basic city services, limitations in transportation, housing and healthcare access and psychosocial stressors that curtail healthy lifestyles and contribute to environmental health disparities.
Part two, at 1 p.m. Thursday, April 21, features a documentary titled “Great Lakes: One Water for Life” on which Detroit Mercy Associate Professor of Health Administration Zigmond Kozicki collaborated. The documentary explores environmental water issues throughout the Great Lakes.
The World Health Organization (WHO) designates each April 7 as a day to focus on health concerns around the world. According to the organization, environmental causes such as natural disasters, global warming, the pandemic, pollution, poverty and war are responsible for some 13 million deaths annually.