Thailand: country report on children’s environmental health

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-77
Author(s):  
Siriwan Chandanachulaka
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Health ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Country Report ◽  
Health Networks ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Children’S Environmental Health ◽  
Mortality Ratio

AbstractThailand is the home of 66.4 million people of which 17.21% are children aged 0–14 years. The total population of children has decreased from 20.23% in 2009 to 17.21% in 2018. The mortality ratio of infants and children under 5 years of age has also steadily decreased between 2008 and 2017. Urbanization, globalization, and industrialization appear to be the main contributors to the transition from infectious to chronic non-communicable diseases. The main types of environmental exposure to children are water, sanitation and hygiene, air pollution from traffic in inner cities, chemical hazards from pesticides which result from agricultural activities in countryside areas, heavy metal contaminants such as lead and arsenic from anthropogenic activities, e.g. from industrial zones, mining, electronic appliance waste, and ongoing climate change. It is concluded that economic development and rapid urbanization in Thailand have resulted in environmental degradation and pose a risk to children’s health. Future development and implementation of measures to improve children’s environmental health (CEH) in the country are needed. Some examples include research specific to environmental threats to children’s health; international environmental health networks to share experience and expertise; and solutions to solve the problems.

The EPA’s Commitment to Children’s Environmental Health: History and Current Challenges

2022 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-134
Author(s):  
Marianne Sullivan ◽  
Leif Fredrickson ◽  
Chris Sellers
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Advisory Committee ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Health Protection ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Children’S Environmental Health

Children’s environmental health (CEH) has a 25-year history at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), during which the agency has advanced CEH through research, policy, and programs that address children’s special vulnerability to environmental harm. However, the Trump administration took many actions that weakened efforts to improve CEH. The actions included downgrading or ignoring CEH concerns in decision-making, defunding research, sidelining the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, and rescinding regulations that were written in part to protect children. To improve CEH, federal environmental statutes should be reviewed to ensure they are sufficiently protective. The administrator should ensure the EPA’s children’s health agenda encompasses the most important current challenges and that there is accountability for improvement. Guidance documents should be reviewed and updated to be protective of CEH and the federal lead strategy refocused on primary prevention. The Office of Children’s Health Protection’s historically low funding and staffing should be remedied. Finally, the EPA should update CEH data systems, reinvigorate the role of the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, and restore funding for CEH research that is aligned with environmental justice and regulatory decision-making needs. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(1):124–134. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306537 )

scholarly journals Malaysia: country report on children’s environmental health

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-52
Author(s):  
Rozaini Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Country Report ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Children’S Environmental Health ◽  
Health Action ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Waste Incinerators

AbstractChildren’s environmental health (CEH) has become a main agenda in the National Environmental Health Action Plan (NEHAP) 2019 in Malaysia. Children are affected by exposure to many environmental hazards because they are uniquely vulnerable due to their immature immune systems and organs. This country report aims to review the environmental threats to CEH in Malaysia. There are a few key issues that have been identified, including air pollution, pesticides in food and water pollution. However, air pollution has been recognized as one of the major concerns in CEH, coming from both localized and transboundary sources. The localized sources include traffic-related air pollutants, industrial waste incinerators, land clearing and open burning. In addition, due to the tropical climate, children are exposed to fungal toxins, mycotoxins, endotoxins and allergens from classroom dust. Transboundary pollutants from neighboring countries result in recurring haze episodes in Malaysia, causing a negative impact on public health, especially in children. All in all, improving CEH in Malaysia requires all stakeholders and related agencies to recognize the issue as a problem, to develop a harmonized action plan and to work together to promote the protection of human health, specifically of children.

scholarly journals Children’s Environmental Health: A Systems Approach for Anticipating Impacts from Chemicals

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (22) ◽  
pp. 8337
Author(s):  
Elaine A. Cohen Hubal ◽  
David M. Reif ◽  
Rachel Slover ◽  
Ashley Mullikin ◽  
John C. Little
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Chemical Management ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Children’S Environmental Health

Increasing numbers of chemicals are on the market and present in consumer products. Emerging evidence on the relationship between environmental contributions and prevalent diseases suggests associations between early-life exposure to manufactured chemicals and a wide range of children’s health outcomes. Using current assessment methodologies, public health and chemical management decisionmakers face challenges in evaluating and anticipating the potential impacts of exposure to chemicals on children’s health in the broader context of their physical (built and natural) and social environments. Here, we consider a systems approach to address the complexity of children’s environmental health and the role of exposure to chemicals during early life, in the context of nonchemical stressors, on health outcomes. By advancing the tools for integrating this more complex information, the scope of considerations that support chemical management decisions can be extended to include holistic impacts on children’s health.

scholarly journals What Do Childcare Providers Know about Environmental Influences on Children’s Health? Implications for Environmental Health Literacy Efforts

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 5489
Author(s):  
Brenda D. Koester ◽  
Stephanie Sloane ◽  
Elinor M. Fujimoto ◽  
Barbara H. Fiese ◽  
Leona Yi-Fan Su
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
The United States ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Environmental Health Literacy ◽  
Childcare Providers

Children are uniquely vulnerable to toxicant exposures in their environment, which can have long-lasting impacts on their health. Childcare providers are an important population to target for environmental health literacy, as most children in the United States under five years of age spend a significant number of waking hours in non-parental care. There is an increasing body of evidence that children are exposed to toxicants in the childcare environment, and yet little is known about what childcare providers know about environmental influences on the health of children in their care. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 36 home- and center-based Illinois childcare providers to better understand their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors as they relate to environmental influences on children’s health. We found that the majority of providers had a low level of understanding of potential sources of exposure in the childcare environment, and they did not feel that environmental exposures posed a significant risk to children. Future efforts to increase environmental health literacy should focus on raising awareness and knowledge of environmental health issues for childcare providers before addressing ways that providers can reduce or prevent toxicant exposures to children in their care.

Botswana: country report on children’s environmental health

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patience Erick
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
World Health ◽  
Contaminated Water ◽  
Country Report ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene ◽  
Children’S Environmental Health ◽  
Health Organization

AbstractAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), 5.9 million children under age 5 died in 2015, and globally, the main causes of child deaths are pneumonia, prematurity, intrapartum-related complications, neonatal sepsis, congenital anomalies, diarrhoea, injuries and malaria. In 2012, it was reported that one quarter of childhood deaths and disease burden could have been prevented by reducing environmental risks. Children are vulnerable to environmental risks such as air pollution, inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene, hazardous chemicals and waste, radiation, climate change, as well as emerging threats like e-waste. They are particularly vulnerable to these threats due to their developing organs and immune systems, smaller bodies and airways. In 2010, there were 132,989 in-patient morbidities. This number represents a 5.2% increase from the 126,381 registered in 2009. The major causes of infant morbidity and morbidity in children under 5 years old were diarrhoea and pneumonia. Although morbidity cases increased in 2010, there was a 6% decline in in-patient mortality from 6952 registered deaths in 2009 to 6535 deaths in 2010. Pneumonia and diarrhoea were the major causes of both infant and child mortalities. In Botswana, various environmental risk factors such as contaminated water, air and soil pollution and poor waste management have been associated with children’s environmental health (CEH). The outbreaks of diarrhoea in the country have always been associated with contaminated water. In the recent outbreak of diarrhoea in August 2018, laboratory investigations attributed the outbreak of diarrhoea to rotavirus. Children (1–6 years) living in areas with high levels of traffic congestion (living near a busy road) had higher levels of lead in their blood than those who lived in areas with less traffic. Poor waste management may lead to contamination of air, soil and water. CEH has not been given the attention it deserves in Botswana. It is, therefore, time to raise awareness on the subject. Health care workers, for example, need to be trained on diseases affecting children that are due to environmental exposures. Communities as well need to be trained on environmental factors that are prevalent in their areas and the effects of those on children’s health. It is important that research should be conducted on CEH in Botswana. At the time of compiling this report, the author was not aware of any CEH network in the country or networks in the region. To raise awareness and advocacy of CEH, there is a need for the establishment of a CEH network in the country or to participate in networks in the regions.

Vietnam: country report on children’s environmental health

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-84
Author(s):  
Le Thai Ha
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Developing Country ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
Country Report ◽  
Children’S Environmental Health

AbstractAs a developing country, Vietnam is facing many problems such as environmental pollution caused by industrialization, urbanization and the ethnic minority gap. Besides, Vietnam is one of the 10 countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and natural disasters. Vietnam has more than 26.3 million children under 16 years of age, with the ratio being 114 boys/100 girls. Children are especially vulnerable to environmental risks. This review includes much data collected during 2010–2018 on children’s environmental health in Vietnam.

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