Box 3.1. Linkages between Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being:
Health
(see figure on linkages in Box 3.1  ).
See also specific information for each main component:
"By health, we refer to the ability of an individual to feel well and be strong, or in other words to be adequately nourished and free from disease, to have access to adequate and clean drinking water and clean air, and to have the ability to have energy to keep warm and cool. Human health is both a product and a determinant of well-being. Changes in provisioning services such as food, water, medicinal plants, and access to new medicines and changes in regulating services that influence air quality, water quality, disease regulation, and waste treatment also have very strong impacts on health. Changes in cultural services can have strong influences on health, since they affect spiritual, inspirational, aesthetic, and recreational opportunities, and these in turn affect both physical and emotional states. Changes in supporting services have a strong influence on all of the other categories of services. These benefits are moderately mediated by socioeconomic circumstances. The wealthy can purchase substitutes for some health benefits of ecosystems (such as medicinal plants or water quality), but they are more susceptible to changes affecting air quality. The following are some examples of health components of well-being affected by ecosystem change.
Nutrition: In 2000, about a quarter of the burden of disease among the poorest countries was attributable to childhood and maternal undernutrition. Worldwide, undernutrition accounted for nearly 10% of the global burden of disease (R16.1.2).
Water and Sanitation: The burden of disease from inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene totals 1.7 million deaths and results in the loss of at least 54 million healthy life years annually. Along with sanitation, water availability and quality are well recognized as important risk factors for infectious diarrhea and other major diseases. (See Box Table .) Some 1.1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water, and more than 2.6 billion lack access to sanitation (C7.ES). (See Box Figure B and Figure C ). Globally, the economic cost of pollution of coastal waters is estimated to be $16 billion annually, mainly due to human health impacts (C19.3.1)."
Vector-borne Disease: Actions to reduce vector-borne diseases have resulted in major health gains and helped to relieve important constraints on development in poor regions. Vector-borne diseases cause approximately 1.4 million deaths a year, mainly due to malaria in Africa. These infections are both an effect and a cause of poverty (R12-ES). Prevalence of a number of infectious diseases appears to be growing, and environmental changes such as deforestation, dam construction, road building, agricultural conversion, and urbanization are contributing factors in many cases (C14.2).
Medicines: The use of natural products in the pharmaceutical industry has tended to fluctuate widely, with a general decline in pharmaceutical bioprospecting by major companies. Historically, most drugs were obtained from natural products. Even near the end of the twentieth century, approximately 50% of prescription medicines were originally discovered in plants (C10.2). Natural products still are actively used in drug exploration. Medicinal plants continue to play an important role in health care systems in many parts of the world. One MA sub-global assessment in the Mekong wetlands identified more than 280 medically important plant species, of which 150 are still in regular use (C10.2.2). Medicinal plants have generally declined in availability due to overharvesting and loss of habitats (C10.5.4).
Source & ©
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
 Synthesis Report (2005),
Chapter 3, pp.52-53
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