KOUGA Municipality is helping to keep South Africans healthy by nurturing the next generation of Environmental Health practitioners.
Twenty third-year students and their lecturers from Nelson Mandela Bay University are in the Kouga region this week to learn more about the day-to-day operations of the municipality’s Environmental Health section.
Kouga Community Services Portfolio Councillor Daniel Benson said Environmental Health practitioners played a critical role in keeping citizens healthy.
“Environmental Health practitioners are tasked with minimising the potential harmful impact that factors in our natural or built environments can have on our health,” he explained.
“Such harmful factors can be present in the natural environment, for example, the water and air, or in built environments where we work, live, play, eat and shop.”
The students’ itinerary for the week includes visits to a waste site, water treatment works and sewer treatment plant, as well as a dairy farm, food processing and production facilities, supermarkets and crèches.
“These are all places where Environmental Health practitioners have a role to play in identifying and minimising factors that could be harmful to people’s health and cause disease,” Benson said.
“We are pleased that we can give the students a practical overview of what they have been learning and wish them well in their chosen profession.”
