A great IELTS essay by a student 🍁

Topic (an awful one, if you ask me):

"Some people think governments should focus on reducing pollution and housing problems to help people prevent illness and diseases. To what extent do you agree or disagree?"

"Whether the government should prioritize combating pollution and solving housing issues to help people become healthier remains a contentious question. In my view, in order to prevent illnesses, other, more efficient, measures need to be taken on the part of the government.

The proponents of tackling pollution and housing issues, however, might argue that both pollution and poor housing require government attention. First, these issues may indeed cause health issues. Contaminated water and mold on the walls of derelict houses, for example, are likely to be responsible for a high rate of illnesses ranging from hepatitis to allergies and asthma, aggravating the risk of chronic cases. Second, the government, rather than ordinary people, can tackle these issues because it is the former that has the power to create and implement regulations aimed at water purification programs and housing renovation.

All the threat posed to health by pollution and impoverished housing notwithstanding, I consider other measures to be more reasonable. The chief measure to consider is prevention medicine. The access to preventative medicine specialists and regular health screenings considerably reduce risk of developing the conditions which are the leading causes of premature deaths, such as heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes. Prevention medicine would thus prolong life expectancy and preserve multitude lives. On top of this measure there is a bigger one — promotion of a healthy lifestyle. The government should, in particular, fund sports facilities and foster proper dietetics programs, thereby nurturing regular exercise and healthy eating habits in the population. These are pivotal to the immune, cardio-vascular and respiratory systems, known as vital, as their smooth operation staves off illnesses and guarantees good health in the long run. These measures are bound to bring better results than housing and pollution regulations because the former fight illnesses directly and the latter much less so.

To conclude, although pollution and housing renovation should be on the governmental agenda, neither of them is a priority when it comes to lessening health problems. What has to top the list is investment in prevention medicine and promotion of a healthy lifestyle."

By Anastasiia Semkova

This is a really good essay on a really bad topic. What are "housing problems"? They are plenty and diverse. As are pollution problems. Why are they all lumped together? Anyway, the student did a great job addressing this vast and unclear topic.

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