What term describes the effective use of measures which will create and maintain healthful environmental conditions?

• A. Public health
• B. Hygiene
• C. Sanitation
• D. Sanitary engineering

Answer: (C)

Creating and maintaining healthful environmental conditions through organized measures is sanitation. This term covers the whole system of actions that keep the environment safe from health hazards—such as safe disposal of waste, clean water supply, proper drainage, sewerage, sanitation facilities, and efforts to control vectors and maintain clean, healthy living spaces. Public health is a broad field focused on protecting population health overall, not just environmental conditions. Hygiene refers to personal cleanliness practices, not the environmental systems as a whole. Sanitary engineering deals with designing and building the systems that enable sanitation, but the broader concept of sanitation includes management, policy, and operation of those measures to prevent disease transmission.