Prof. Dr. Nurhan Meydan Acımış, Faculty Member at the Department of Public Health at PAU Hospitals, said: “World Environmental Health Day is an important occasion to once again remember the decisive impact of the environment in which we live on human health and to emphasize the importance of environmental health for public health. The International Federation of Environmental Health (IFEH) has designated the theme for 2026 as ‘Standing Up for Science to Protect Communities.’ On this meaningful day, I would like to draw attention to the fact that a healthy society is only possible in a healthy and safe environment. Clean air is one of the most fundamental conditions for a healthy life. A significant proportion of deaths attributable to air pollution are caused by noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, chronic respiratory diseases, and cancer. Therefore, the quality of the air we breathe is not merely an environmental issue but directly a public health issue. Similarly, access to clean water, adequate sanitation, hygiene, and safe food are indispensable elements of protecting human health. Contaminated water and inadequate sanitation can lead to serious health problems, particularly for children. The contamination of the environment with chemicals, heavy metals, agricultural pesticides, and uncontrolled waste is also among the significant risks that threaten human health in the long term. Therefore, ensuring that everyone has access to safe drinking water, healthy food, and healthy living environments should be a fundamental public health goal. It is no longer possible to regard climate change solely as an environmental problem. Extreme temperatures, floods, droughts, wildfires, air pollution, disruptions in food and water security, and changes in the spread of certain infectious diseases directly affect human health. Children, older adults, people with chronic diseases, low-income groups, and those who are more exposed to environmental risks are more vulnerable to these impacts.”

Prof. Dr. Nurhan Meydan Acımış: “Clean water, safe food, and healthy living environments should be available to everyone.”

Prof. Dr. Meydan Acımış, stating that efforts to address environmental risks should be based not on claims unsupported by scientific evidence but on reliable measurements, scientific research, and their actual effects on public health, continued: “Our fundamental approach to environmental health should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the environmental conditions that cause diseases rather than intervening after diseases have emerged. Because the most powerful tool in public health is prevention before treatment. The air we breathe, the water we use, the food we consume, and the environment in which we live today will determine not only our lives today but also the living conditions of future generations. Therefore, I believe that policies based on scientific evidence, prioritizing a preventive health approach, reducing environmental inequalities, and ensuring healthy living environments for everyone need to be strengthened. On the occasion of World Environmental Health Day, I would like to emphasize once again that we should not consider our health separately from our environment. Cleaner air, safe water, healthy food, livable cities, and a sustainable environment are a common right for all of us.”