Children S Health And Environment

With new and updated content on biodiversity and chemicals in food, Textbook of Children's Environmental Health, Second Edition remains the quintessential textbook for the study of the environmental hazards that cause disease in childre

This is the first textbook to focus on environmental threats to child health. It will interest professionals and graduate students in public health, pediatrics, environmental health, epidemiology, and toxicology. The first three chapters provide overviews of key children's environmental health issues as well as the role of environmental epidemiology and risk assessment in child health protection. Overarching themes are the susceptibility of the rapidly developing fetus and infant to environmental toxicants, the importance of modifying factors(e.g. poverty, genetic traits, nutrition), the role of health outcome and exposure monitoring, uncertainties surrounding environmental exposure limits, and the importance of timely intervention. Later chapters address the health effects of metals, PCBs, dioxins, pesticides, hormonally active agents, radiation, indoor and outdoor air pollution, and water contaminants. In analyzing potential environmental hazards, the author addresses both biologic and epidemiologic evidence, including the likelihood of causal relationships. Among the health outcomes he discusses are developmental, reproductive, and neurobehavioral effects, respiratory disease, cancer, and waterborne infectious diseases. These discussions cover environmental exposure sources/indicators, interventions, and standards, and conclude with a summary of calls for an improved science base to guide public health decisions and protect child health.

Children's health has clearly improved over the past several decades. Significant and positive gains have been made in lowering rates of infant mortality and morbidity from infectious diseases and accidental causes, improved access to health care, and reduction in the effects of environmental contaminants such as lead. Yet major questions still remain about how to assess the status of children's health, what factors should be monitored, and the appropriate measurement tools that should be used. Children's Health, the Nation's Wealth: Assessing and Improving Child Health provides a detailed examination of the information about children's health that is needed to help policy makers and program providers at the federal, state, and local levels. In order to improve children's health-and, thus, the health of future generations-it is critical to have data that can be used to assess both current conditions and possible future threats to children's health. This compelling book describes what is known about the health of children and what is needed to expand the knowledge. By strategically improving the health of children, we ensure healthier future generations to come.

Each year, millions of children die of environmental causes and many more suffer serious illness or injury. Children are often the most vulnerable to the condition of their environment -and their health is an index of its quality - but their wellbeing is rarely given priority by governments or aid agencies. Ironically, the problems can be traced back to matters which can be treated straightforwardly and at relatively low cost - poor drinking water or food, or infectious diseases which can be controlled. This book gives a multidisciplinary account of the environmental health hazards threatening children and the range of impacts they can have. It also explains what can be done, by communities as well as governments and aid workers, to provide safe and healthy environments for children. The book looks at conditions in a range of cities in the developing world, as well as pollutants and other health problems affecting children in the North. Published in association with UNICEF, and written by some of the same authors as Environmental Problems in Third World Cities (Earthscan, 1993), this provides excellent course material, and will be useful for practitioners working on child development, infant and maternal health, environmental health and community development. David Satterthwaite is Director of the Human Settlements Programme at the International Institute for Environment and Development, and principal author of Environmental Problems in Third World Cities (1993) and Squatter Citizen(1989).

"Over the past four decades, the prevalence of autism, asthma, ADHD, obesity, diabetes, and birth defects has increased substantially among children throughout the world. Not coincidentally, more than 80,000 new chemicals have been developed and released into the global environment during this same period. Today the World Health Organization attributes more than one third of all childhood deaths to environmental causes. Children and Environmental Toxins: What Everyone Needs to Know offers an authoritative yet accessible question-and-answer guide to the "silent spring" of environmental threats to children's health. As the burdens of environmental toxins and chronic disease continue to defy borders, this book will be an invaluable addition to the conspicuously sparse literature in this area"--

In June 2004, the 52 countries in the WHO European region agreed to adopt the Childrens Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe, setting out a framework for national policy implementation in relation to environmental risk factors and their effects on childrens health. This publication contains guidance on the development of national action plans suited to each countrys circumstances, priorities and resources, whilst still addressing region-wide environmental risk factors.

Recent research has found that children are particularly vulnerable to environmental hazards. Air and water pollution, environmental risks in the home, and toxics in food and drink affect children more than adults. This volume examines policies designed to protect children from environmental threats, identifies factors that influence their health, and investigates childhood diseases that are caused or affected by the environment. State and federal legislation also are reviewed.--Publisher's description.

How children experience, negotiate and connect with or resist their surroundings impacts on their health and wellbeing. In cities, various aspects of the physical and social environment can affect children’s wellbeing. This edited collection brings together different accounts and experiences of children’s health and wellbeing in urban environments from majority and minority world perspectives. Privileging children’s expertise, this timely volume explicitly explores the relationships between health, wellbeing and place. To demonstrate the importance of a place-based understanding of urban children’s health and wellbeing, the authors unpack the meanings of the physical, social and symbolic environments that constrain or enable children’s flourishing in urban environments. Drawing on the expertise of geographers, educationists, anthropologists, psychologists, planners and public health researchers, as well as nurses and social workers, this book, above all, sees children as the experts on their experiences of the issues that affect their wellbeing. Children’s Health and Wellbeing in Urban Environments will be fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in cultural geography, urban geography, environmental geography, children’s health, youth studies or urban planning.