WHO | HECANET email updates

HECANET is an international mailing list dedicated to promoting healthy environments for children. The list provides updates on the activities of the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance (HECA), advocacy tools and information resources, relevant meeting announcements, and reports on technical research and monitoring related to environmental risks to children's health.

In preparation for the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health (Budapest, June 2004), the Third Intergovernmental Meeting took place 27-28 November 2003. Held in Evora, Portugal, the meeting provided Member States with the opportunity to exchange views about the two proposed policy outcomes of the Conference: the Conference declaration and the Children’s Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE). The meeting discussed priority issues of emerging/increasing importance, including housing and health, and health, energy and sustainable development. For background documents and working papers from the Third Intergovernmental Meeting, please see the Web site of the WHO Regional Office for Europe: http://www.euro.who.int/eprise/main/WHO/Progs/EEHC/meetings/20031117_1.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announces the publication of the Second Edition of Pediatric Environmental Health. This manual is a comprehensive guide for pediatric clinicians to the identification, prevention, and treatment of environmental health problems in children. It has been produced by the AAP Committee on Environmental Health and edited by Ruth A. Etzel, MD, PhD, and Associate Editor, Sophie J. Balk, MD. For more information and to order the book, please see: http://www.aap.org/bst/showdetl.cfm?&DID=15&Product_ID=1697&CatID=132.

For Healthy Kids! is a project of the Center for Child Environmental Health Risks Research (CHC) at the University of Washington, USA. In an effort to understand whether educational activities could reduce harmful pesticide exposure to children in agricultural communities, CHC has developed educational materials--in both Spanish and English--for both adults and children. Posted on the Web site of the Children's Health Environmental Coalition, these materials include a pesticide safety handbook, a head start curriculum, take-home pamphlets (for parents), a pesticide safety tips pamphlet, posters, a colouring book and colour maze, and a fourth grade curriculum. More information: http://www.checnet.org/healthehouse/education/articles-detail.asp?Main_ID=644.

The theme of this year's National Child Day in Canada (20 November) was "A Community Fit for Children". To commemorate the day, children and adults were urged to work together to plan an activity that would make the community more fit for children and celebrate children's rights. The theme reflects priorities outlined in Canada's National Plan of Action for children, which is currently being developed. The Plan will focus on four key areas: promoting healthy lives, including combatting HIV/AIDS; providing quality education; protecting against abuse, exploitation, violence and neglect; and enabling social engagement and collaboration. For more information on Canada's National Child Day and National Action Plan for children, please see the Web site of Health Canada: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dca-dea/ncd-jna/main_e.html.

HECA organized an interactive panel discussion at the International Healthy Cities Conference (Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK) on 20 October 2003. The panel discussion aimed to maximize exchange of knowledge, lessons learned, and policy implications, as well as build on networks from the perspective of healthy cities experiences and healthy environments for children activities at global, regional, national and local levels. Presentations were made on the evolution of the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance, how HECA at the global level is translating into national/local action to address environmental risk factors to children’s health (using South Africa as an example), and opportunities to address issues of children’s health in the area of transport, a key concern in urban planning and healthy cities programmes. More information: http://www.who.int/heca/events/belfast/en/index.html.

'Children in the New Millennium: Environmental Impact on Health' aims to inject urgency in efforts to address the interlinkages between environmental factors and the survival, protection and development of children. By providing information on specific environmental health threats facing children in their immediate surroundings, as well as on the impact of global environmental problems, it is intended to stimulate discussion, lead to intensified action, and help to elevate the issue on the international agenda. The book is a 2002 joint production of UNEP, UNICEF and WHO. More information: http://www1.nyo.unep.org/children/.

The Final Report on World Health Day 2003, which was dedicated to the theme "Healthy Environments for Children", is now available in Spanish and French. More than 300 events in over 100 countries marked World Health Day 2003. Events involved tens of thousands of children, their parents and teachers, their medical professionals and community leaders, their regional governments and national ministries. Through media coverage, the message that children are the centre of sustainable development, and that their health needs to be protected from environmental hazards, spread to millions more.
Spanish: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2003/infomaterials/es/index.html. French: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2003/infomaterials/fr/index.html.

The Fourth session of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (1-7 November 2003) made substantive progress towards achieving sound global management of chemical safety. Delegates at all levels singled the need to protect children from chemical threats and safeguard their environment. “The enforcement of the Forum recommendations will certainly promote actions at all levels which will make the world safer for our children, now and in the future,” said Dr Jenny Pronczuk, Medical Doctor, World Health Organization. There was a strong call for action to mitigate known risks and to address areas of uncertainty concerning children’s exposure to chemical threats. The need to consider children’s possible enhanced exposures and/or special vulnerabilities whenever acceptable levels of exposure or criteria related to chemicals are being set was emphasized. Governments were called to prepare initial national assessments of children’s environmental and chemical safety. These assessments should identify the priority concerns in their country, and provide the basis for developing action plans to address those concerns. More information: http://www.who.int/ifcs/Forums/ForumIV/Forum_IV.htm.

In collaboration with WHO/EURO, Young Minds will be involved in the preparations for, and be present at, the 4th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health (Budapest, June 2004). Young Minds is an Internet-based project through which young people from multiple European countries communicate and explore the links between youth, culture and health. A schools programme on "environment, health and being young" is now underway, encouraging young people to reflect on the impact of the environment on health and the role of young people in environmental health issues. At the Conference itself, Young Minds will enable youth from eight participating countries to play a part in the debate on environment and health. Select schools will send student and teacher representatives to demonstrate the use of ICTs at the Conference. All schools throughout Europe will be able to follow the Conference through a live interactive Web site. More information: http://www.young-minds.net/.

Sustainable and healthy urban transport and planning contribute to healthy environments for children by, for example, preventing road traffic injuries (the leading cause of death from unintentional injury among children) and decreasing levels of air pollution (a major environment-related health threat to children and a risk factor for both acute and chronic respiratory disease). The main objective of the Workshop on Sustainable and Healthy Urban Transport and Planning (16-18 November 2003, Nicosia, Cyprus) is to review good practices and lessons learnt for integrating environment and health considerations into urban transport and land-use planning through case-studies. Workshop participants will discuss the existing strategies, policy and fiscal measures, awareness-raising methods and integrated land-use planning processes. Particular emphasis will be placed on the problems of the countries in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central-Asia, with the aim of identifying sub-regional issues demanding further attention. The workshop is being organized by the Government of Cyprus in cooperation with the UNECE and WHO/Europe secretariats, and in consultation with the Bureau of Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme Steering Committee. More information: http://www.unece.org/the-pep/new/en/workplan/urban/urban_implementation.htm.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has recently launched a new online resource for children's environmental health. The America's Children and the Environment Web site (located at http://www.epa.gov/envirohealth/children) presents data on environmental contaminants and children's health. The Web site highlights trends for levels of environmental contaminants in air, water, food, and soil; concentrations of contaminants measured in the bodies of women and children; and childhood illnesses that may be influenced by environmental contaminants. The site's contents are based on the recently published report "America's Children and the Environment: Measures of Contaminants, Body Burdens and Illnesses".

The workshop "Assessment of Environmental Health Risks for Children" was held 10-11 November 2003 in Munich. Experts from internationally reknowned schools of public health and research institutes, the UN system, and German ministries, organizations, and other entities participated in the event. The following topics were covered in detail: general aspects of risk assessment (including the impact of age on toxicologic risks in children), air pollution (including traffic air pollution's role in atopic diseases), passive smoking, allergies, technical electromagentic fields (including the potential effects of low-frequency electromagentic fields on children's health), UV-radiation, nutrition, cancer, accidents, weather and climate, and the ranking of environmental risks. The workshop was sponsored by the Bavarian State Ministry for Environment, Health and Consumer Protection, and was organized by the Institute and Outpatient Clinic for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, LMU, Munich. In the coming days, workshop papers will posted to this Web address: http://arbmed.klinikum.uni-muenchen.de/workshop/program.html.

The Fondation pour Geneve, in conjunction with the World Health Organization and the Association des Medecins du canton de Geneve (AMG), hosted a round table discussion on healthy environments for children (21 October 2003, WHO HQ). During the round table, the environment in its holistic sense was discussed. The significant influence of social and cultural factors for children’s health--in addition to the physical environment--was underscored, as was the importance of collaboration and intersectoral work. A number of risks were discussed, including unsafe chemicals, indoor air pollution, lack of water security, unintentional injuries (accidents), environmental tobacco smoke, and unsafe transport. Social issues such as alcohol abuse and depression, which may lead to suicide and domestic violence, were presented as adding another dimension to unhealthy environments for children. Participants recognized that risk factors should be addressed using a "settings" approach to facilitate action across sectors. The round table demonstrated, above all, the importance of collaboration for linking initiatives, sectors and the local and national levels. For more information and to download round table presentations in PDF: http://www.who.int/heca/events/whoamgroundtable/en/.

WHO is now collaborating with IWA Publishing to produce the Journal of Water and Health. This new journal represents a joint commitment to promote the highest-quality research and practice across the full range of challenges to harnessing water for health in developing and developed countries alike. For more information, please see the Web site of WHO's Water, Sanitation and Health department: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/research/en/.

The community of La Cuchilla, Santa Barbara, Honduras, has asked Plan ROCCA for help in rebuilding their houses with cement blocks and zinc sheets. Why? Because they do not trust that fumigation and plastering alone can save their children from Chagas disease, which is caused by a flagellate protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted to humans by triatomine insects. The vector finds a favourable habitat in crevices in the adobe (or mud brick) walls and roofs in rural areas and peripheral urban slums.
More information on Chagas disease: (http://www.who.int/health_topics/chagas_disease/en/).
More information on Plan ROCCA's programme (in PDF): http://www.who.int/heca/infomaterials/en/hecanet_planrocca.PDF.

Launched on 21 October, the UNICEF-commissioned report “Child Poverty in the Developing World” reveals that over one billion children suffer the severe effects of poverty. The report draws from the largest, most accurate survey sample of children ever assembled. Using a pioneering methodology, the survey measures the extent of child poverty, in terms not only of income, but of deprivation of basic human rights such as shelter, food, water, sanitation, health, education and information. The researchers analysed survey data on nearly 1.2 million children from 46 countries collected mainly during the late 1990’s. The research team included experts from the Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol and the London School of Economics. Download the report in PDF: http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_poverty.pdf.

Making the community environment healthy for children requires providing safe waters for recreation and bathing. On 16 October, WHO unveiled new "Guidelines for Safe Recreational Water Environments", which aim to empower users to obtain the health and other benefits (e.g., enjoyment, relaxation, and exercise) of recreational use of coastal and freshwater environments, while minimizing risks to users' health. The Guidelines cover drowning and injury; exposure to cold, heat and sunlight; water quality (exposure to water contaminated by sewage, but also exposure to freeliving pathogenic microorganisms in recreational water); contamination of beach sand; exposure to algae and their products; exposure to chemical and physical agents; and dangerous aquatic organisms. The Guidelines are intended to be the basis for the development of international and national approaches (including standards and regulations) for controlling the health risks from hazards that may be encountered in recreational water environments and for providing a framework for local decision-making. More information: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/bathing/srwe1/en/.

The Commission for Environment Cooperation (CEC) of North America is developing a North American set of indicators of children's health and the environment. A feasibility study was completed in late 2002, forming the basis for a recommendations document identiying a set of core indicators as well as the implementation strategy. In June 2003, during their annual meeting, the CEC Council (composed of the environment ministers or the equivalent) adopted a resolution accepting the recommendations and instructing the three CEC countries--Canada, Mexico, and the United States--to provide data on children's health and the environment indicators for this report. The implementation phase will include the compiling of these selected indicators by the governments and the preparation of the first North American indicators report, due to be released in 2004. The project partners are the CEC, the IJC Health Professionals Task Force, Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization. In addition to fulfilling an action called for in the CEC's Cooperative Agenda for Children's Health and the Environment in North America, this project represents an important contribution to commitments made at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. More information: http://www.cec.org/.

This year, 10.8 million children younger than five years will die. Nearly all of these deaths will be concentrated in the world's poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Within each country, children from the poorest families are most likely to die. Effective low-cost interventions are available that can prevent two-thirds of these deaths. The challenge is how to deliver these interventions to children who need them most, children who are bypassed by existing health services' delivery strategies. A group of global child health experts met several times over the past few years, culminating in a workshop sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, Italy, in February 2003. These scientists, speaking as individuals concerned with child health, produced a series of five articles published in The Lancet in June and July 2003. For more information, see WHO's Child and Adolescent Health and Development Web site: http://www.who.int/child-adolescent-health/publications/CHILD_HEALTH/Lancet_CS.htm.

On 30 September 2003, the presidents of the Southern Cone pediatric societies from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay met in Mar del Plata, Argentina, to discuss children's environmental health issues. The outcome of the meeting was the commitment--announced in the form of a declaration--to further collective and national work on children's environmental health. Specific joint activities were planned for Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay with the participation of Argentinean professionals. Presidents of the pediatric societies will launch CEH activities in their countries and will report on these at the World Congress on Pediatrics in Cancun, Mexico (August 2004). View the declaration:
Spanish- http://www.aamma.org/surdec.htm.
English- http://www.who.int/heca/infomaterials/hecanetesfr/en/index2.html.

Follow-up: First International Training Workshop on Children's Environment Health

With an attendance of nearly 500, the First International Training Workshop on Children's Environmental Health was held 1 October 2003 in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Topics discussed in the context of the workshop included "Why children?: A new pediatric morbidity – the need to consider CEH"; "The special vulnerability of developing fetus, infant, child and adolescent"; "Chemical, physical and biological risks in the child/adolescent’s environments"; "Air, water and food pollution"; "Toxichemicals in neurodevelopment"; "Exposure to heavy metals and pesticides"; "Endocrine disruptors"; "Environmental risk for hospitalized children"; "The Pediatric Environmental History, a tool for pediatricians"; "Advocacy needs: raising awareness and motivating action"; and "Environmental Pediatric Units". Experts from the following organizations delivered presentations on this occasion: the Argentine Society of Doctors for the Environment (AAMMA); the Argentinean Society of Pediatrics (SAP); the Environmental Pediatric Units of Mount Sinai Hospital and George Washington University; the International Network on Children’s Health, Environment and Safety (INCHES); the International Pediatric Association (IPA), the International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE), and WHO. More information: http://www.aamma.org/consap.htm.

Follow-up: Inaugural Meeting of the IPA Children's Environmental Health Committee

On 2 and 3 October 2003, the first meeting of the Children's Environmental Health Committee of the International Pediatric Association (IPA) took place in Mar de Plata, Argentina. The main objectives of the meeting were to exchange information on the environmental health activities of IPA, WHO and HECA, and on specific activities of the committee members; plan what should be accomplished within the next five years; discuss training on environmental health and the promotion of pediatric environmental history; plan for the International Congress of Pediatrics (Cancun, August 2004); and propose potential partnerships.

The Healthy Environments for Children Alliance will be involved in two upcoming events: an interactive panel discussion on HEC (16:15-17:45, 20 October, Block E) at the International Healthy Cities Conference (Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK); and a HEC round table discussion (9:30-12:45, 21 October, WHO HQ), organized by the Fondation pour Geneve, World Health Organization, and the Association des Medecins du canton de Geneve. More information: http://www.who.int/heca/en/.

As stated in the objectives for the workshop “Environmental Threats to the Health of Children in the Americas” conducted in April, 2003, in Lima, Peru, one outcome sought by the Pan American Health Organization/WHO Regional Office for the Americas (PAHO/AMRO) was to develop a regional perspective on children's environmental health. For this purpose, the development of national profiles on children’s environmental health was proposed to the countries of the Region. The following countries, to date, have produced national profiles: Brasil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela. More information: http://www.cepis.ops-oms.org/bvsana/i/perfiles.html.

According to the article "Environmental Threats to Children's Health in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific" (published in Volume 111, Number 10, August 2003, Environmental Health Perspectives), the South-east Asia and Western Pacific regions contain half of the world's children and are among the most rapidly industrializing regions of the globe. Environmental threats to children's health are widespread and are multiplying as nations in the area undergo industrial development and pass through the epidemiologic transition. These environmental hazards range from traditional threats such as bacterial contamination of drinking water and wood smoke in poorly ventilated dwellings to more recently introduced chemical threats such as asbestos construction materials; arsenic in groundwater; methyl isocyanate in Bhopal, India; untreated manufacturing wastes released to landfills; chlorinated hydrocarbon and organophosphorous pesticides; and atmospheric lead emissions from the combustion of leaded gasoline. To address these problems, pediatricians, environmental health scientists, and public health workers throughout South-east Asia and the Western Pacific have begun to build local and national research and prevention programs in children's environmental health. Read the full article: http://www.who.int/heca/infomaterials/en/hecanet_ehparticle.pdf.

The SCALE initiative, launched by the European Commission, presents a systematic approach to the development of a European Environment and Health Strategy, particularly in regards to children's environmental health. It is based on [S]cientific evidence, focused on [C]hildren, meant to raise [A]wareness, improve the situation by use of [L]egal instruments, and ensure a continual [E]valuation of the progress made. Its aim is to assess and minimize adverse health effects due to environmental pollution, and comprises the build-up of information systems, as well as the compilation of adequate political measures. To facilitate an efficient working process, priority topics have been chosen and attributed to three Technical Working Groups (TWGs): 1) TWG on indicators and priority diseases (subgroups: environment and health indicators; respiratory diseases, neurodevelopmental diseases and childhood cancer); 2) TWG on integrated monitoring (subgroups: biomonitoring of children; pilot projects on dioxins and PCBs, heavy metals, endocrine disrupters); 3) TWG on research needs. Three EU Regional Conferences serving to initiate and promote the SCALE initiative are currently underway. These constitute the kick-off meetings for the Technical Working Groups and give the starting shot for the development of the European Environment and Health Strategy. One conference took place on 6-7 October in Warsaw; another on 9 October in Brussels, and the last one will take place in Rome on 16/17 October. More information: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/health/index_en.htm.

Indoor air pollution arising from the use of biomass fuels in developing countries is recognised to be responsible for a substantial burden of disease among the poor, principally resulting from acute respiratory infections (ARI) in young children and chronic respiratory illness in women. In response to this, WHO has supported the development of an intervention study to directly measure the change in incidence of acute lower respiratory infections in young children of measured reductions in exposure to indoor air pollution. After several years development work and through funding by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a study is underway in the rural highlands of western Guatemala, led by a team from the universities of del Valle (Guatemala City), Berkeley (USA), and Liverpool (UK). In these poor highland areas, most families are dependent on wood for their cooking and space heating needs, and the majority in the poorest areas still use an open three-stone fire with very little ventilation. Some 500 homes with very young children (aged less than six months), using open fires, were invited to join the study. A random 50% of the homes were then offered a locally made improved chimney stove, the plancha, which studies have shown is very well accepted, meets all household needs, and substantially reduces indoor air pollution levels as well as exposure of women and children. More information: http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/guat/.

With the signing in 2002 of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), preparations are underway by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to begin the implementation of the Convention once the ratification process is completed. In particular, Article 16 of the Convention calls for an effectiveness evaluation to be undertaken four years after the date of entry into force of the Convention, and periodically thereafter. During a meeting of experts convened by UNEP on this subject in March 2003, the three previous studies of dioxins, dibenzofurans and PCBs in human breast milk coordinated by WHO were presented. As a consequence, the meeting recommended that levels of POPs in breast milk be one of the indicators to be monitored to assess the effectiveness of the Convention. WHO has just completed a pilot study to analyse all POPs in breast milk (with the exception of mirex, which was used as an internal standard) from 16 countries around the world. The study confirmed the feasibility of using breast milk as an indicator, although it is recognized that the protocol for sample collection will need to be improved. While these preliminary results are only indicative of actual levels, the picture of POPs contamination of breast milk appears to vary markedly across the world and provides a means for setting national or regional priorities. This work has been undertaken in collaboration with the Dioxin Laboratory at the Chemisches und Veterinaruntersuchungamt in Freiburg, Germany, and the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven, Netherlands.

Children's environmental health is one of the areas of work featured on the new Web site for WHO's Protection of the Human Environment (PHE) programme. The Web site, located at http://www.who.int/phe/en/, provides resources such as guidelines, briefings and publications, databases and statistics, training materials, press releases, links to partnering organizations and collaborating centres, and event announcements. The following PHE programme areas of work--many of which relate to healthy environments for children--are covered on the site: air quality; chemical safety; children's environmental health; climate and global environmental change; environmental burden of disease; electromagnetic fields; environmental health impact assessment; ionizing radiation; occupational health; ultraviolet radiation; and water, sanitation and health.

Entitled "The Power of Local Action", the International Healthy Cities Conference (Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK, 19-22 October 2003) is structured around four themes related to action for health and sustainable development. These are: building strong partnerships, alliances, and networks; tackling the wider determinants of health; designing supportive environments to meet the needs of all citizens; and creating effective policies, strategies, and tools for action. HECA will be organizing an interactive panel discussion on 20 October (16:15-17:45) at the conference. The purpose of the panel discussion is to exchange information, knowledge, best practices, lessons learned and build on networks from the perspective of healthy cities experiences and Healthy Environments for Children activities in countries. More information: http://www.healthycitiesbelfast2003.com/.

Following World Health Day 2003 events in South Africa (for a report on World Health Day events see http://www.mrc.ac.za), the South African Minister of Health announced the formation of a Steering Committee to build a Healthy Environments for Children Alliance in South Africa. The steering committee has held several planning meetings in recent months and formed working groups to focus on the following action areas: household energy, environmental lead exposure, water and sanitation, unintentional injuries, child abuse, tobacco exposure, and settings. All working groups have been tasked with developing action plans, which will be considered at the Healthy Environments for Children – South Africa Summit planned for March 2004. As part of the Summit planning process, a mini-review of the main environmental threats to child health in South Africa will be prepared. Following the Summit, the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance – South Africa will be formally launched.

The Fondation pour Geneve, in conjunction with the World Health Organization and the Association des Medecins du canton de Geneve (AMG), will be hosting a round table discussion on healthy environments for children (9:30-12:45, 21 October 2003, WHO HQ). Presentations will be made by experts from WHO, AMG, and cantonal departments followed by discussions around the following themes: why an alliance in favour of a healthy environment for children; the physical environment as a factor of risks - home, school, and community; and the social environment - life styles and behavioural aspects. In addition, there will be a session presenting solutions that adopt integrated approaches to children's environmental health issues. It is envisaged that the round table will allow for exchange, providing both global and local perspectives on environmental threats to children's health and ways to ensure healthy environments for children. More information (in PDF): http://www.who.int/heca/infomaterials/en/roundtable_oms_amg.pdf.

The inaugural meeting of the International Pediatric Association's (IPA) Committee on Children's Environmental Health will take place in Mar de Plata, Argentina, on 2 and 3 October 2003. This event is being hosted by the International Network on Children’s Health, Environment and Safety (INCHES), the International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE), and WHO. Representatives of pediatric societies from different regions of the world will meet to discuss and plan the future of children's environmental health (CEH) work, draft proposals for joint action on CEH, and discuss the inclusion of CEH in the framework of the 2004 World Congress of Pediatrics, to be held in Cancun, Mexico (August 2004). More information: http://www.aamma.org.

WHO Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development (CAH) will conduct a technical briefing at WHO headquarters in Geneva 27-31 October 2003. The briefing is intended to give participants an overview of CAH activities, to introduce participants to WHO staff, and to identify areas of mutual interest for possible collaboration. The briefing presents the Department's primary strategies for decreasing mortality and contributing to the healthy growth and development of children and adolescents from 0 to 19 years of age. The following healthy environments for children issues will be covered in the context of the briefing: research on the impact on child health of reducing indoor air pollution (the potential for reducing mortality and morbidity from acute respiratory infections among children under 5 years of age); promotion of key family practices for improving child health (including feeding- and hygiene-related practices); developing and maintaining safe and supportive environments for adolescents (including the social environment); and possibly a discussion of the WHO-wide strategy for child and adolescent health and development (where HEC figures as one of seven areas). More information: http://www.who.int/child-adolescent-health/NEWS/news_24.htm.

The cause of many skin cancers is ultraviolet radiation (UV) from the sun. Children, who are both most vulnerable and most exposed, are disproportionately affected. In response to the problem, WHO, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other partners in the Intersun Project have recently launched a set of new educational materials. The new package will help children, their families and educators protect children from the risks of developing malignant and non-malignant skin cancers, cataracts and other UV-caused conditions. The materials support recommendations made in “Sun Protection, An Essential Element of Health-Promoting Schools”, a part of the WHO Information Series on School Health. More information: http://www.who.int/peh-uv/sunprotection.htm#Education.

The first announcement and call for abstracts for the 3rd International Conference on Children's Health and Environment are now available online (in PDF) at http://www.pinche.hvdgm.nl/resource/pdf/london_announcement.pdf. The conference will take place on March 31 - April 2, 2004 in London, UK, and has been initiated by the International Network on Children’s Health, Environment and Safety (INCHES), in collaboration with the Policy Interpretation Network on Children’s Health and Environment (PINCHE) and the International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE). It is meant to be a world-wide platform dealing with health problems of children caused by important environmental influences. The Healthy Environments for Children Alliance will be organizing a session at the conference (more details to come).

"Children's Health and the Environment: A Review of Evidence" provides an overview of the available evidence on the relationship between the physical environment and children’s health, identifying both research needs and policy priorities to protect children’s health from environmental hazards. The report was produced in 2002 by the European Environment Agency in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. In order to further disseminate the report's contents and in preparation for the 4th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health (Budapest, June 2004), a presentation of the Italian translation of the report took place at the Ordine dei Medici in Rome, Italy, on 19 September 2003. This was followed by a press conference on the subject. The translation of the report and the presentation were coordinated by the Italian branch of the International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE-Italy), with the support of the Regional Agency of Tuscany for Environmental Protection (ARPAT). To download the report in English, please see: http://www.euro.who.int/childhealthenv/Publications/20020725_4.

Healthy environments for children and child friendly cities are closely linked through the emphasis on ensuring the children have the best conditions possible to live, learn, play, and grow. The Child Friendly Cities Secretariat, housed at the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, strives to distil innovations aimed to fulfil the human rights and meet the basic needs of children and women living in cities, especially in low-income communities, and those suffering from various forms of discrimination. In light of the growing number of cities engaged in developing programmes and initiatives for children in low-, middle- and high-income countries, the Secretariat has developed a database on Child Friendly Cities around the world. The CFC Database can be accessed through the CFC website at http://www.childfriendlycities.org/resources/database.html, and is the result of data collection and analysis among CFC experiences worldwide. The CFC Database is comprised of two main types of documents: 1) project documents on case studies, good practices, legislation, programmes, research, and surveys; and 2) publication abstracts including bibliographic references of documents--such as books, journal articles, and conference proceedings--that support the development of the concept of Child Friendly Cities.

Marking the culmination--to date--of the alliance-building process, the new HECA Framework for Action sets out the initial activities and expected achievements of the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance. The document was drafted at the 9-10 June 2003 meeting of the Alliance-building Task Force in Washington, D.C. This meeting provided a platform to agree on a common vision for the Alliance and to establish a foundation for advancing work in the near-term. Those taking part included representatives of national governments, agencies and organizations of the United Nations system, intergovernmental bodies, non-governmental organizations, as well as representatives of the WHO Regional Offices and Headquarters. It was agreed that the HECA Framework for Action will be widely disseminated and used on an interim basis by alliance members over the next twelve months, following which it will be subject to review and revision. More information: http://www.who.int/heca/alliancebuilding/junewash/en/.

"Healthy Environments for Children" was the theme of this year's Annual Conference on Health Promotion in Thailand, held 26-29 August in Bangkok. Gathering more than 500 participants from throughout the country, the conference commenced with an awards ceremony, presided over by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Public Health, where a number of schools were honoured as "Good Practice Models for Healthy Environments in Health-Promoting Schools". This was followed by a panel presentation by the Director-General of the Department of Health and, subsequently, presentations on environmental risks to children's health by technical experts from the World Health Organization. Among the issues highlighted by WHO speakers were the importance of health promotion and how to promote healthy environments for children. Reference was made to the special susceptibility of children, how to create national movements for healthy environments for children (HEC), WHO activities relating to environmental risks to children's health, preparations for the session on children and chemicals for IFCS Forum IV, and an update on the alliance-building process of HECA. A special session, entitled "Children's Voices on Healthy Environments", allowed for children ages 6 to 14 to share their views of key environmental concerns and health, as well as interview conference participants and authorities, discuss activities, and propose solutions.

Earth Day Network has recently launched a two-year "Water for Life" campaign that will bring global attention to the world's water crisis and provide practical ways for individuals, communities and corporations to improve access to healthy water worldwide. One component of this campaign is "The World's Thirstiest Children". Earth Day Network is partnering with UNICEF and a number of NGOs on this project and highlighting case studies from 10 of the world's water "hot-spots" to raise awareness of a spectrum of water issues. The public awareness campaign will happen on a number of fronts and will be directly attached to solution-based activities. In each of the water "hot spots", a child's story will be highlighted to show the water issues. The story is then connected with identifiable solutions, either through individuals, the community itself, or with national, regional and international support. Each case study will raise awareness but then also inspire action. The action might involve support for a NGO working in the community or it might involve local legislative and community action. More information: http://www.earthday.net/goals/water/ten_children.asp.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has undertaken a research project on the valuation of environmental health risks to children to help policy-makers identify health and safety risks that largely affect children, and to develop guidelines for the valuation of children’s environmental health risks. To this end, an international workshop on children's environmental health valuation was organised at the OECD on 11-12 September. The objective of this workshop was to share information amongst experts and policy-makers who work on economic valuation, environment and health economics, and other related disciplinary fields. The workshop reviewed the state of knowledge, assessed the different approaches and the needs for further research and action, and shared information on the current practices for the valuation of health risks in different countries. More information: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/40/28/7497980.pdf.

"WASH in Schools" is a new advocacy, communications, and implementation campaign designed to ensure that schools have water security, adequate hygiene and sanitation, and separate sanitary facilities for boys and girls. Launched by UNICEF and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) at the 3rd World Water Forum in Japan in March 2003, WASH in Schools activities are advancing rapidly. Activities include, among others, the launch of WASH in Schools in ten countries by WSSCC, awareness/linkage building using the WASH Caravan, and a high-profile launch in the WSSCC Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. Simultaneously, UNICEF Country Offices, in association with national ministries and other entities, are implementing WASH in Schools pilot projects, developing and adopting programmatic guidelines and standards for school sanitation and hygiene promotion programmes, building latrines, and designing models for hygiene education and resource materials, among other activities. For more information on WASH in Schools, see: http://www.wsscc.org/load.cfm?edit_id=183.

As a pre-congress activity for the 33rd Congress of Pediatrics, the First International Training Workshop on Children's Environmental Health will be held on 1 October 2003 in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The goal of the training is to promote the recognition, assessment and study of the environmental factors that affect children's health and development and to promote the prevention of exposure. This training is oriented towards pediatricians, nurses, health administrators, and primary health-care workers. It will include a special meeting on children's environmental health (CEH) with the presidents of the Societies of Pediatrics of Argentina, Uruguay, Bolvia, Peru, Chile, Brazil, and Paraguay in order to plan and implement regional training events of CEH. The training has been organized by the International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE); the International Network on Children's Health, Environment, and Safety (INCHES) through their Argentine member organization, the Argentinian Society of Doctors for the Environment (AAMMA); WHO; and Argentinian Society of Pediatrics (SAP). More information: http://www.aamma.org.

Slums without clean water, proper sanitation and basic services can be amongst the most health-threatening environments on earth, especially for children. The idea behind World Habitat Day is to remind governments, municipalities and the public about the urgency of striving to improve human settlements. This year's World Habitat Day focuses on water and sanitation for cities, highlighting the world’s urban water and sanitation crisis. The main event will be held on 6 October in Rio de Janeiro, with additional events including an international water conference and the launch of the Water for Latin American and Caribbean Cities programme. For more information, see the UN-Habitat Web site: http://www.unhabitat.org/whd/2003/default.asp.

The Pan-American Health Organization/ WHO Regional Office for the Americas (PAHO/AMRO) has recently published their strategy and action plan for the "Healthy Environments, Healthy Children: A Movement to Achieve Healthy Environments for Children of the Americas". With a vision towards ensuring that children in the region can live, grow, learn and play in an environment supportive of good health, the movement is four-pronged in its approach. The four objectives of the strategy/action plan are: 1) to communicate, educate, and raise awareness; 2) to generate information and report indicators to assess the status of children's environmental health; 3) to promote public policies to protect children's environmental health; and 4) to implement regional and global actions to better protect children from environmental threats. To read the strategy/action plan document in full, please see:
English: http://www.cepis.ops-oms.org/bvsana/fulltext/chelac2en.pdf
Spanish: http://www.cepis.ops-oms.org/bvsana/fulltext/chelac2es.pdf

"Constuyendo Ambientes Saludables para los Niños" (Creating Healthy Environments for Children) was the name of the national campaign launched in Chile on 7 April, World Health Day 2003. Since the campaign's initiation, activities include the following: 1) a competition resulting in the selection, funding, and realization of twelve projects, designed by youth themselves, for improving their home, school, and community environments; 2) leadership training for youth on how to help secure healthy environments for children, carried out in collaboration with Ecoclubes; and 3) an event to mark Inter-American Water Day (4 October), supported by the Red Municipal de Atención Primaria Ambiental. For more information on these activities, please see http://www.who.int/heca/infomaterials/hecanetesfr/en/index1.html (Spanish version only) or contact the PAHO/WHO Chile Office at e-mail@chi.ops-oms.org.

In preparation for the Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (Bangkok, Thailand, 1-7 November 2003), the decision document "Protecting Children from Harmful Chemical Exposures" is now available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish: http://www.who.int/ifcs/Forums/ForumIV/Meet_docs.htm. The document provides an overview of environmental health risks to children, as well as explores chemical hazards and sustainable development, why children are particularly vulnerable to chemicals, chemical exposures and children's health, some chemical substances of concern, international action to protect children from harmful chemical exposures, and what can be done to protect children from harmful chemical exposures. At Forum IV, governments and other stakeholders will agree on actions and partnerships to reduce chemical risks and prevent childhood exposure. The decision paper will be accompanied by a soon-to-be-published in-depth information document.

The Healthy School Environments page of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Web site serves as a portal to on-line resources on how to protect children from environmental risks in schools. Under "topics", the site provides a wealth of information on diverse environmental risk factors (mold and moisture, ventilation, pest management, lead, mercury, asbestos, among many others). The Healthy School Environments page is intended to help facility managers, school administrators, architects, design engineers, school nurses, parents, teachers and staff address environmental health issues in schools. More information: http://cfpub.epa.gov/schools/index.cfm.

UNICEF and the IRC (International Resource Centre on water supply, sanitation and hygiene) provide an online resource centre on school sanitation and hygiene education. Located at http://www.irc.nl/sshe/index.html, the site features programme updates, "Notes and News on SSHE" (a space for those working on school sanitation and hygiene education to share experiences), articles, papers, resource books, manuals and advocacy materials.

September 16th is International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer and, this year, the theme of the day is "Save Our Sky: There is a Hole Lot More to Do for Our Children". Advocacy materials for the day emphasize the need to protect children from the adverse effects of UV radiation, which is reaching the earth's surface as a result of ozone layer depletion. Although levels of ozone-depleting substances in the stratosphere now seem to be at or near their peak and the total amount of ozone depleting chemicals in the troposphere is continuing to decline slowly, the ozone layer will remain particularly vulnerable during the next decade or so. Hence, the international community still faces the challenge of ensuring full compliance with the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer as adjusted and amended. For more information on the day and on how you can become involved, see the site of the Ozone Secretariat at UNEP: http://www.unep.org/ozone/ozone_day2003/.

Dr Alvaro Uribe Vélez, President of Colombia, signed off on the "Manifesto for a Healthy Environment" on 7 April, World Health Day 2003. His signature was indicative of the highest possible level of national political commitment to the issue Healthy Environments for Children. The preparation of the Manifesto--which had been carried out with the participation of more than 3,500 children, teachers, and parents throughout the country--was an initiative of President Uribe; the ministries of social protection, the environment, housing and education; the National Institute of Health; UNICEF; and PAHO/AMRO. To read the Manifesto (in Spanish), please see: http://www.col.ops-oms.org/diamundial/2003/manifiesto.asp.

Household water security and adequate hygiene and sanitation are essential components of healthy environments for children. WHO's Water, Health and Sanitation Programme has recently launched a new Web site: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/en/. The site features a wealth of information materials, technical guidelines/studies, and advocacy tools. Factsheets on over twenty water-related diseases, many of which disproportionately effect children, and estimates of the global burden of water-related disease are available. One can also find guidelines on important water safety issues like drinking water quality and recreational bathing waters, the guidelines for the later of which are soon to be published in the Bathing Waters section.

Reports on World Health Day 2003 activities and resources for further HEC advocacy/education are available on the Web site of the WHO Regional Office for South-east Asia (SEARO). Window on SEAR, Vol. 3 Issue 1, June 2003--located at http://w3.whosea.org/extrelations/vol3-1.htm --includes a detailed account of select World Health Day 2003 celebrations. To support ongoing actions, factsheets with key statistics on the impact of environmental threats to children's health, as well as strategies to protect children from such threats, can be found at the below links:

"Protejamos a nuestros niños. Limpiemos el aire" [Let's Protect Our Children: Let's Clean the Air] was the theme of this year's Inter-American Air Quality Day, celebrated August 8th. According to a background document for the day, more than 30 million children in Latin America and the Caribbean breathe unhealthy air. The document states that children are particularly vulnerable to air pollution for two reasons: children take in more air in proportion to their bodyweight and lung size, and children's bodies are developing and are more susceptible to irritations and illnesses. In commemoration of the Inter-American Air Quality Day, two informative presentations were prepared on the theme of children's health and air pollution in Latin America and the Caribbean. To view the presentations (available in Spanish only), or to read the above cited background document, please see the Web site of El Centro Panamericano de Ingeniería Sanitaria y Ciencias del Ambiente (CEPIS): http://www.cepis.ops-oms.org/bvsci/E/diaaire2003/diaaire2003.html.

On World Health Day 2003, the Canadian Institute of Child Health (CICH), in partnership with the Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF), launched an interactive, educational Web site entitled "Healthy Spaces". The site, located at http://www.cfc-efc.ca/healthy-spaces/home_en.php, aims to increase awareness of children's exposure to potential contaminants in the areas where children grow, learn and play. Equipped with colourful, interactive maps of spaces, a glossary that explains key environmental risks, and resources/links for further information, the site allows viewers to make informed decisions about how to create safe and healthy spaces for young children.

How can advocacy, information, education, and communication help protect children's health from environmental hazards? Experiences of different strategies and successes working with parents, schools, scientists and health professionals will be shared at an international workshop for educators, health professionals and policymakers to be held at the Medical University in Wroclaw, Poland from 29 September to 1 October 2003. This workshop is organized jointly by WHO/Europe and the Institute of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health in Sosnowiec, Poland, and will develop recommendations for the children's environment and health action plan for the Budapest Conference. The closing date for registration is 1 August 2003. More information: http://www.euro.who.int/childhealthenv/Policy/20030627_1.

World Health Day 2003, dedicated to "Healthy Environments for Children", was marked by more than 300 registered events in over 100 countries. The World Health Day (WHD) 2003 Final Report, Report Appendices on events and media coverage, and Photo Gallery are now available on the WHD 2003 Web site. The Final Report is available in English with text-only versions in Spanish and French. The Appendices are currently available in English, with Spanish and French text-only translations to be uploaded in the future. Although it was not possible to feature all photos, the WHD 2003 Photo Gallery features samples of the hundreds received from event coordinators around the world. More information: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2003/en/ (click under Information Materials and Press Corner).

Lack of water security, particularly in the home setting, is one of the environmental health hazards that HECA has identified as priority issues. Access to a reliable safe water supply is also a human right as defined in the General Comment on the Right to Water and the Declaration on the Rights of the Child. Eleven-year-old Canadian Ryan Hreljac, founder of the Ryan's Well Foundation, has been working to ensure household/school water security and safe drinking water since he was six. The Ryan's Well Foundation is committed to raising money for wells and clean water, and currently funds projects in Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, and Malawi and Ethiopia. The Foundation uses an innovative child-to-child approach entailing educational programmes on water security in schools in Canada, resulting in fundraising by Canadian students for wells in project countries. For further information on this curriculum-based/fundraising approach, see the "Schools Page" of the Foundation's Web site: http://www.ryanswell.ca/school.htm.

A resolution supporting HECA was passed at the 30th meeting of EC-CAMRE (the Executive Council of the Council of Arab ministers in charge of the environment) on 3-4 June 2003 in Beirut, Lebanon. Dr Houssain Abouzaid (HECA Focal Point for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office) presented on the special susceptibility of children to environmental risks at the meeting, which was chaired by HRH Prince Fahd Bin Abdallah Al Saud (Deputy Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General of Civil Aviation of Saudi Arabia, and Chairman of the EC-CAMRE). The meeting was attended by representatives of eight Arab countries and regional and national organizations. During the meeting, a resolution under the agenda item related to follow-up to WSSD was passed in support of the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance. It stated that the Executive Council "welcomes the WHO initiative on healthy environments for children and is willing to contribute to its implementation in the Arab region" (unofficial translation).

The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues opened its second session at the UN in New York in May 2003 with a High-level Panel on Indigenous Children and Youth. WHO participated in this panel with a presentation on HECA, emphasising that the Alliance provided an excellent opportunity of focusing attention on the environmental health problems of indigenous children. For a variety of reasons, such as residence in environmentally contaminated areas, geographic or cultural distance from mainstream populations and health services, extreme poverty, and reliance on traditional diets, indigenous communities are at particularly high risk from environmental hazards. This was recognized in the recommendations of the Permanent Forum (a new body, whose mandate is to make recommendations, through ECOSOC, to all parts of the UN system, aiming to increase coordination). The Forum requested the UN agencies supporting and promoting HECA to include a particular focus on indigenous children and youth. WHO was also asked to work with other UN agencies in preparing a workshop on the impacts of POPs and pesticides on indigenous communities. The text of the presentation made on HECA can be found at http://www.who.int/heca/infomaterials/en/pfhecapres.PDF. To view the full report of the second session of the Permanent Forum, please see http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/pfii

On World Health Day 2003, dedicated to "Healthy Environments for Children", the Environmental Pediatric Unit of the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous University of San Luis de Potosi, Mexico, was inaugurated. Activities currently underway include research projects on contaminated sites (genotoxicity in children exposed to heavy metals in mining zones; neurological impairments in children exposed to flouride and arsenic through natural contamination; child exposure to pesticides in agricultural zones; and apoptosis of immune cells in children exposed to DDT in malaria-stricken areas). Likewise, support has been received for programmes on toxicovigilance. Throughout the state, a medical surveillance network has been established among students of social service disciplines. Students monitor levels of persistent organic contaminants in samples of maternal milk. Contact has been established with the Pediatric College and training activities are being developed for pediatricians. These include courses on clinical toxicology and discussion groups. Furthermore, support is being furnished for projects dedicated to the creation of educative programmes on interventions in contaminated sites. These programmes focus on children exposed to contaminants and diverse educational materials have been produced. More details on the activities of the Unit and some of the educational materials listed above can be found on the following Web site: http://canicas.uaslp.mx. Versión original - español.

WHO/Europe will be giving a Media Award to mark the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health (Budapest, June 2004). As the theme of the conference is "The Future of Our Children", entries on topics relevant to children's health and environment are currently being solicited. Categories for submissions include documentaries, short films, or programming (the later of which must be made for or by young people). Entries should come from countries of the WHO European Region and cover topics present in that region. For more details, please see: http://www.who.dk/budapest2004/20030624_3

You are cordially invited to an information session on the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance on 10 June 2003 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the offices of the United Nations Foundation, 1225 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, D.C. The information session will be organized as an interactive panel discussion around the theme: "Healthy Environments for Children Alliance: Building the alliance and global movement - progress made and next steps". We hope that you will be able to join us and we look forward to your participation as we continue to build this worldwide alliance to intensify global action on environmental risks to children’s health that arise in the settings where they live, learn, play and earn. Should you plan to attend this session, please RSVP to heca@who.int with "Attending 10 June Information Session" in the subject line and your name, title, and organization in the message body.

South Africa is one of the countries that drafted a national pledge to Healthy Environments for Children on the occasion of World Health Day 2003 (7 April). South Africa's pledge, which begins "We the Leadership and the People of South Africa", maps out the following next steps for the nation: establish and build a national alliance in association with HECA; undertake an in-depth assessment of environmental risks in the country; create increased awareness nationally through the establishment of Healthy Environments for Children Centres; in consultation with communities, develop a Plan of Action; and many other groundwork-laying activities. To read the full pledge, please see: http://www.who.int/heca/infomaterials/southafrica_pledge.pdf

The theme for this year's World Environment Day (5 June) was "Water - Two Billion People are Dying for It!" UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his World Environment Day 2003 statement, cited that one person in six lives without regular access to safe drinking water. Children are among the hardest hit: water-related diseases kill a child every eight seconds. The Healthy Environments for Children Alliance--dedicated to intensifying global action on environmental risks to children's health in places where they live, learn, play and earn--has highlighted household water security and lack of hygiene and poor sanitation as two of six groups of environmental health hazards that must be tackled as global priority issues (the other four are air pollution, vector-borne diseases, chemical hazards, and unintentional injuries). The Alliance promotes effective policies and action at all levels and in all sectors, and supports countries and communities in creating and maintaining healthy environments for children. Interventions to protect children from risks associated with inadequate household water security and lack of hygiene and poor sanitation include extending access to the “unserved”, protecting water resources from contamination, ensuring safe water storage and treatment, promoting hand-washing, and targeting hygiene education, among many others. For more information on World Environment Day, please see: http://www.unep.org/wed/2003/.

The World Health Assembly gave a powerful endorsement to new strategic directions for child and adolescent health. The strategy brings together crucial elements to reduce childhood deaths and long term disability. Relevant to the work of the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance, the physical environment of children and adolescents is one of the areas identified for future action. The strategy recommends the physical environment be improved by focusing on six priority issues: household water security, hygiene and sanitation, air pollution, disease vectors, chemical hazards, and injuries and accidents. For more information, see: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2003/prwha5/en/.

The International Network on Children's Health, Environment, and Safety (INCHES) publishes electronic updates on news, programmes/activities, articles, and conferences relevant to children's environmental health. To subscribe, send an email with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line to pvdhazel@inter.nl.net.

Interdisciplinary Curriculum Development on Healthy Environments for Children

In Costa Rica, a multidisciplinary didactic guide on healthy environments for children is being created using World Health Day 2003 information materials. The Costa Rican Ministry of Public Education (Division of Curriculum Development and Office of Environmental Education) and PAHO/WHO Costa Rica (Environment and Health Programme) are collaborating in the design of the guide. World Health Day materials, accompanied by the curriculum guide, will be distributed to educational centres throughout the country. The guide incorporates activities in the areas of social studies, natural sciences, mathematics, and Spanish. Students will learn about healthy environments for children through field trips, research, projects, math exercises, and narration.

WHO Regional Office for Europe has just launched a listserv on news and developments during the build-up to the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, to be held in Budapest in June 2004. If you would like to subscribe, click on http://www.euro.who.int/budapest2004/20030423_1. "The future for our children" is the theme of the Conference. Ministers of health and of environment from 51 countries across the WHO European Region will be making decisions on children's environment and health, including the adoption of a children's environment and health action plan for Europe. How do we protect our children's health from environmental threats? This issue is moving up the political and health agenda across Europe. The Budapest Conference Web site can be found at: http://www.euro.who.int/budapest2004.

IFCS Forum IV: Events on Protecting Children from Harmful Chemical Exposures

Forum IV of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety--the theme of which is "Chemical Safety in a Vulnerable World"--will feature events on protecting children from harmful chemical exposures. The forum will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, 1-7 November 2003, and will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss problems, propose innovative solutions and take action in partnership to prevent harmful exposures to chemicals in children. Events will include: 1) Honorary opening address, keynote presentation and panel emphasizing the issue of children and chemical safety; 2) presentation of the paper "Protecting children from harmful chemical exposures"; 3) an exhibit by the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance. For more information, please see: http://www.ifcs.ch.

The World Health Organization, UNICEF and UNEP, in collaboration with stakeholders in the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance (HECA), held a panel discussion during the Partnerships Fair of CSD-11 on Wednesday 7 May 2003. The Partnerships Fair is being introduced into CSD-11 to enable those with experiences or information about sustainable development partnerships, and those who wish to become involved in such partnerships, to meet and share experiences. The event was moderated by Dr Robert Musil, Executive Director and CEO, Physicians for Social Responsibility and panelists included: Dr David Nabarro, Executive Director, Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments, World Health Organization; Dr Vanessa Tobin, Chief, Water, Environment and Sanitation Section, UNICEF; Mr Adnan Amin, Director, New York Office, United Nations Environment Programme; and Ms Susan West Marmagas, Director, Environmental Health Programs, Physicians for Social Responsibility. The HECA event during the Partnerships Fair was an opportunity to present HECA, brief delegates on developments since WSSD and the outcomes of HECA alliance-building efforts, and engage in a dialogue with potential stakeholders/interested parties on opportunities for involvement and action in the global alliance. The official Web site on the Partnerships Fair can be viewed at: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/partnerships/csd11_partnership_fair.htm.

The Ministerial Roundtables of the 56th World Health Assembly (19-28 May 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland) are devoted to healthy environments for children. The Ministerial Roundtables serve to enhance the involvement of ministers and heads of delegations in policy debate. Ministers of health are invited to use the round table discussions to make output-oriented recommendations for policy and action in ensuring healthy environments for children. Ministers and heads of delegation will share best practices in healthy environments for children, identify major constraints and obstacles to achieving success/implementation, examine the role of the health sector and other sectors in addressing children's environmental health issues, as well as the role of national versus local government, and share experiences of successful advocacy and communications approaches in creating healthy environments for children. For more information, see: http://www.who.int/gb/EB_WHA/PDF/WHA56/ea56d4.pdf.

More than 300 events in over 100 countries marked World Health Day 2003. Events involved tens of thousands of children, their parents and teachers, their medical professionals and community leaders, their regional governments and national ministries. Through media coverage, the message that children are at the centre of sustainable development, and that their health needs to be protected from environmental hazards, spread to millions more. World Health Day 2003 was a potent advocacy and awareness-raising undertaking for HECA and all collaborating entities. The momentum produced by WHD 2003 serves to move HEC issues higher up on the world's political/development agenda and further galvanize the work of the alliance. For more information on World Health Day 2003, or to download the information/advocacy materials produced for the day, please see the WHD 2003 Web site:
English: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2003/en/
Espanol: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2003/es/
Francais: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2003/fr/

The first meetings of stakeholders to further develop the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance (HECA) were held on 3 and 4 December 2002 in Geneva, Switzerland. The objective of the meetings was to agree on future directions, methods of work, next steps for forming the alliance – and making it operational. Those taking part included representatives of national governments, agencies and organizations of the United Nations system, intergovernmental bodies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector, as well as representatives of the Regional Offices of WHO and Headquarters. To read the final meeting report, please see:http://www.who.int/heca/infomaterials/heca_dec34_meetreport.pdf

The UN Cyber School Bus on healthy environments for children offers educators an excellent Web resource. It features pop-up windows with detailed information on environmental risk factors including lack of household water security, inadequate hygiene and sanitation, air pollution, disease vectors, chemical hazards, and unintentional injuries (accidents). An interactive question and answer series and a virtual slide show further expand on environmental risk factors to children's health and effective interventions for protecting their health and well-being. More information: http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/worldhealthday2003/index.html#.

Brazilian cartoonist Mauricio de Sousa, in collaboration with Pan American Health Organization/WHO Regional Office for the Americas, has contributed a comic book to help transmit the HEC message to children. Click here for more information and to download a PDF version: http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/whd03_graphics.htm.

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