The ideal home is not just a building for shelter.
A home should be a place cold, rain and sun, wind, pests, disasters such as
floods and earthquakes, and pollution and disease. Unfortunately, many people’s
living conditions do not protect their health.
Poor living conditions may even cause illness, or make health problems
worse. Whether people live close together or spread apart, poor housing, indoor
air pollution, pests, and toxic chemicals in household products can cause many
illnesses.
As more people move from rural areas into cities
and towns, the way people live and maintain their homes changes, often for the
worse. People who spend a lot of time in the home, such as children, the
elderly and disabled, and people with long-term health problems such as HIV,
suffer the most.
How to improve living conditions by making homes
safer and more comfortable depends on local traditions, available materials,
and climate. Unfortunately, it also depends on income and ownership. People who
rent their homes often have little control over their living conditions and
must depend on their landlords to make improvements. People in shantytowns,
marginal communities, or other “temporary” settlements (which too often become
permanent) live in homes that rarely provide security or comfort. But whether a
person owns, rents, or lives in makeshift housing, working with neighbors is
the most effective way to improve living conditions in the whole neighborhood.
Health Problems at Home: Our homes are not separate
from the environment. They can have many of the same environmental health
problems we find in our communities and workplaces. When planning a new home or
improving the home you live in, you can protect your health by considering
problems caused by how and where houses are built, how they are furnished, and
what work is done at home.
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