Rocío Román Collado
Professor Dept. of Economic Analysis and Political Economy. Sevilla University.
We still remember the recent commitment made in Parma (Italy) by the 53 participant countries during the 5th Environment and Health Cabinet Conference organized by WHO in Europe. The agreement reach during the Environment and Health Statement in Parma means that each country must implement national policies guaranteeing that all children will have access to healthy life conditions on 2020.
This agreement is actually imbued with the global commitment reached by all the countries in the world regarding the Millenium Development Goals (MDG). These targets have become the main challenge for developed countries to achieve on 2015. Nevertheless, the danger is that, even being an essential reference in all the cabinet conferences and international agreements, perhaps the said targets will not be absolutely achieved.
Which are the achievements on childhood health after reaching the agreement?
Health is an essential element for MDG, specifically the targets number 4, 5 and 6 are especially focused on health despite, as OMS states, the rest of goals have aspects related to health, too. To be concrete, the fourth target is centred specifically on the reduction of mortality regarding children under 5 years old.
According to WHO’s report, 2009 World Sanitary Statistics, the mortality rate regarding children under five has been reduced a 27% between 1990 and 2007. As it is stated by WHO, the reduction of children’s mortality depends more and more on the fight against neonates’ mortality since 37% of deaths in children under five take place during the newborn first month. HIV/AIDS levels, financial difficulties and wars have a negative impact on these statistics.
How are environmental factors affecting children health?
Identifying and analyzing the main causes of these deaths is one of WHO’s leading aims. One of the deciding elements on deaths regarding children under five is the environmental factor. It is considered that approximately one third of children’s mortality (three million children) is caused by reasons and conditions related to environment.
What do we mean when we talk about environmental factors?
WHO have supplied us with some data regarding this matter. 88% of deaths for diarrhoea regarding children under five (1,32 million approximately) are caused by insalubrious water, inadequate hygiene or poor or lack of drainage. Likewise, air pollution (caused mainly by tobacco and solid combustibles) provokes the death of one million children per year.
Apart from diarrhoea and inner air pollution there are other environmental factors causing death, chronic diseases and cancer. For example mites, moulds and pollens cause a good deal of asthma on children. Likewise, the exposition of children to lead, mercury and pesticides can provoke serious diseases or death by poisoning. It is remarkable that on developing countries, children can be more easily affected by exposure to aflatoxins in some food, which cause growth deficiency, low weight and a major sensitivity to infectious illness during childhood and old age.
How is children environmental health measured?
In many countries, the methods and rules to evaluate the impact that environmental risks have on human health must still be established or be improved. That is why, a health indicators system seems to be essential so that the ruling can carry out policies to improve our children environmental health.
In that sense, WHO’s regional bureau in Europe together with the European Commission are an example when undertaking the Environment and Health Information System (ENHIS) which allows starting policies on children environmental health. This system was implemented for the first time on 2007 and it has been updated at the end of 2009; it has established the basis for our representatives’ decisions during the Fifth Cabinet Conference.
The ENHIS system allows users to have at their disposal the scientific information on public health as well as the environmental conditions in the European countries. Likewise, users can evaluate the effectiveness of the policies in force and exchange their knowledge and good practises in profit of public health and environment.
Tags: development cooperation, environmental, Millenium Development Goals, nature, pollution, who
Tags: development cooperation, environmental, Millenium Development Goals, nature, pollution, who
[...] we said on our article last month, the Environmental and Health Information System (ENHIS) allows to assess the environmental health [...]