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UPDATE no. 28 September 2002 INCHES
2002-The International Network on Children's Health, Environment and Safety
Dear member of INCHES,
In this update :
News items
Articles:
Two article abstracts
Conferences
INCHES funding
INCHES website
Any items related to children’s are welcome. Someone who wants to do something or knows someone who can do some voluntary work for the website can reply to the secretariat.
INCHES website
We are looking for some statements from the member organisations about children’s environmental health. If your organisation has any position paper, or declaration, please forward it to INCHES and we will place it on the website. Any items related to children’s environment and health are welcome. Someone who wants to do something or knows someone who can do some voluntary work for the website can reply to the secretariat.
WSSD summit in Johannesburg –short report
ISDE, The Alliance To End Childhood Lead Poisoning, WHO Europe, EEA, FUNAM, AAMMA were among the participating organisations in Johannesburg. The media have played a role of saying that the summit did not do very well. I cannot say that this negative view is true for all topics under discussion in Johannesburg. As for the health related issues there are a lot of successes to mention. The overall number of sessions, presentations, conferences, exhibitions, press meetings were overwhelming. Maybe too much. But I felt it as a very successful summit if we look at what has been achieved for children’s environmental health. I will name a few.
The Global Lead Network meeting on August 25th and the Global NGO Forum event - International Networking and Advocacy: The Global Lead Network were successful events at the Summit. More and more countries realise that they have to get rid of lead in the petrol.
An official Summit side event consisting of an interactive discussion with speakers on 'Health and the Environment in the 21st Century: Priorities and Action Strategies to Secure our Children's Future' was attended by more than 250 persons. A lot of them delegates from different governments. Topics addressed included linkages between health and the environment, the economic burden of ill-health related to environmental degradation and investing in children and the environment. Speakers were Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General, WHO; Ms Carol Bellamy, Executive Director, United Nation's Children Fund (UNICEF); Dr Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director, UNEP; Dr. Tshabalala-Msimang Minister of Health of South Africa and the Executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility and mrs. Fischer from USEPA were the main speakers.
WHO announced the call for a new Global Alliance for Healthy Environments for Children. This Global Alliance was officially announced last Sunday by Dr. Brundtland. It will incorporate all stakeholders working on children’s environmental health.
A symposium on Health and Sustainable Development addressed topics such as investing in health for development, children's health and the environment and research partnerships. The third of the event's five sessions was dedicated to children’s health and the environment. Speakers were from UNICEF, USEPA, Ministry of Health of Mexico, University of Michigan, International Society of Doctors for the Environment and Physicians for Social Responsibility and INCHES. The opening was by dr. Lilian Corra, from AAMMA Argentina and Peter van den Hazel from INCHES. A report on this session will follow in a future update.
A session organized by Earthday Network at the NASREC conference centre focused on the more practical issues in Children’s Environmental health. Some good contacts with different community groups were established for cooperation in the future on different local or regional problems.
NEWS from the Asian region
Cordial greetings from the Association for Realisation of Basic Needs-ARBAN & Bangladesh. Thank you very much for the INCHES Updates. Perhaps you know that ARBAN is a member of INCHES and we are grateful to you for making us partner of your struggle. You’ll be happy to know that ARBAN has been working with the poor & powerless people of Bangladesh for their empowerment & emancipation. The poor, the powerless & the marginalized men, women & children live environmentally in the most hazardous conditions in the slums & shanties located beside the roads and highways, low-lying areas wetlands, railways, mills, factories & industries in Bangladesh. We work in the areas of non-formal development education, primary health care, water, sanitation & hygiene promotion, ecology and environment development, women development & empowerment, children’s & human rights, poverty alleviation, savings & credit and building organisation of the rural-urban poor for their self-determination.
Since, we are concerned with people’s health our priority is children’s health who are born & brought-up in unhealthy & hazardous environment. So, it would be appreciated if you kindly link us with organisations or institutions which will support us & our activities morally & financially. In this context, may I invite you to come to Bangladesh to see some of our activities both in the rural and urban areas according to your convenience.
Articles
Two article abstracts from or member PSR
1) Childhood Disease Research Lacking in Comparison to Economic Costs
The most serious childhood diseases in the U.S. and other developed countries are chronic conditions with multiple causative factors, including environmental pollution. Although environmental linkages are known or suspected for many diseases, their economic costs to society have not been estimated. A recent study estimates the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and annual costs of four environmentally induced childhood diseases – lead poisoning, asthma, cancer, and developmental disabilities. Using approximations of incidence and prevalence for each of these diseases in the U.S., the researchers estimated the average annual costs attributable to toxic environmental exposures to be $43.4 billion for lead poisoning; $9.2 billion for neurobehavioral disorders; $2.0 billion for asthma; and $300 million for cancer. For these diseases alone, the total annual cost (average) attributable to environmental factors is $54.9 billion, nearly 2.8 percent of the total annual costs for illness in America. By comparison, the cost of all child-related research was only $2 billion (1995 estimate) – a small fraction of federal research spending. Based on the results of the study, the authors recommend increased investment in disease tracking and surveillance, basic research on disease mechanisms, prevention-oriented epidemiologic research, and most importantly, pollution prevention.
Landrigan PJ et al. (2002). Environmental pollutants and disease in American children: Estimates of morbidity, mortality, and costs for lead poisoning, asthma, cancer, and developmental disabilities. Environmental Health Perspectives 110(7):721-728.
2) Environmental History-Taking Underutilized by Pediatricians, Despite Concerns
A poll of pediatricians in Georgia revealed that while these doctors believed that environmental exposures were important for children, and that the incidence of children’s environment-related illnesses was increasing, only two-thirds of primary care practitioners routinely took a basic environmental history. Pediatricians also expressed some lack of confidence and most reported lack of training in environmental history taking, although 89 percent stated that they were interested in learning more about the topic. The survey found that most pediatricians inquired about tobacco smoke exposure, pets in the home, drinking water sources, lead exposure, and housing in patient histories; however, many other environmental exposures were not routinely addressed. The researchers concluded that significant opportunity exists for training in environmental history-taking and increasing the frequency with which these inquiries occur.
Kilpatrick N et al. The environmental history in pediatric practice: A study of pediatricians’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Environmental Health Perspectives 110(8):823-827.
QUESTION to INCHES members: Who of you is working with a environmental history taking tool?
Is this tool available for other members? Where can it be found if it is in electronic format? Can your list be distributed as an example to the other members of INCHES? Can you send us more information?
New conferences:
On Saturday, September 21, 2002 the 1st Annual Conference on Children's Health and the Environment will be jointly sponsored by The George Washington University Medical Center, Children's National Medical Center, and the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment.
Target Audience: physicians, nurses, public health professionals. Please visit our web site at www.health-e-kids.org for more information. CME credits available.
The conference will be held in Washington, DC USA on the campus of The George Washington University.
To download the program brochure and registration form in PDF format please click on:
66.40.168.196/PDFs/MACCHEbrochure.pdf
We are very pleased to inform you that 5th International conference “Health Insurance in Transition” will be held in Zagreb, Kroatia from 25th till 28th September, 2002. Main theme of the Conference is: Biotechnology: Expectations, Gains and Costs. We recommend Module 5 "Impact of Media and Communication in Public Health and Biotechnology".
The Conference is organized by the “Andrija Stampar” School of Public Health and Government of Croatia, Ministry of Health, together with the London School of Economics and Political Science, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and European Observatory on Health Care Systems. For detailed program visit our web pages at www.dub-conference.org
Previous announced conferences
3rd. European Conference on Pediatric Asthma ; October 28-29, 2002
The Conference will present the latest research findings and discuss their impact on the current understanding of asthma and its treatment. The meeting will consist of interactive teaching sessions with direct audience participation and plenary sessions. Contact Castle House Medical Conferences at +44 (0)1892-539606 or e-mail at asthma@castlehouse.co.uk Website: www.castlehouse.co.uk
The Eighth Annual Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Conference; December 11-13, 2002
Jointly sponsored by the University of South Florida Colleges of Medicine and Public Health, Center for Disease Control, and the Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies. Abstracts deadline: May 3, 2002.
In Clearwater Beach, Florida, USA
Contact Erica Thomas by phone at (813)-974-6695, or by e-mail at contend@hsc.usf.edu.
Healthy Children Conference will take place on October 10-11, 2002 in Chernivtsy (Ukraine) at the Bucovinian Medical Academy Conference Center. (See Update no. 24)
Conference secretariat: Department of Developmental Pediatrics Bukovinian State Medical Academy; Post Box # 601 58010, vul. Grushevskogo, 1, Chernivtsi-10, Ukraine
E-mail - chernivtsi2002@yandex.ru, pediatr2@msa.cv.ua
www.chernivtsi2002.narod.ru
Association pf physicians for the environment of Turkey organizes International symposium of children’s helath and environment on October 18th – 20th, 2002, Istanbul, Turkey. See Update no. 24.
Website: www.cevrehekim.org.tr ; Contact: Dr. Günay Can: 90-212- 586 15 49 alpincan@yahoo.fr ; Dr. Ümit Sahin: 90-212- 244 56 68 umitsa@turk.net
The 1st Annual Conference of AIRNET
The first of three Annual Conferences of AIRNET.The conference will be held in the Brunei Gallery, SOAS in London, UK, December 11-12, 2002, immediately following the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine meeting to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Great London Smog event of December 1952. See update no.25. Contact Marjan Tewis (m.tewis@iras.uu.nl) or go the AIRNET website and follow directions there.
Did you locate a possible sponsor? Do you a private sponsor? Can we mail some information on INCHES to one of your friends? Any donations (or suggestions of possible donors) are welcome at bank account nr.: 526292490 ABN AMRO (swiftcode ABNANL 2A), Dieren, Netherlands.
Last updated 24 September 2002
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