The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Session: Protecting Children’s Health: Policy and Educational Strategies to Address Lead Poisoning and Asthma
4253.0: Tuesday, November 12, 2002: 4:30 PM-6:00 PM
Oral
Protecting Children’s Health: Policy and Educational Strategies to Address Lead Poisoning and Asthma
Emerging and recalcitrant issues in children’s environmental health, including increasing trends in asthma and related respiratory conditions and continued risks of lead poisoning among poor and minority communities reflect complex environmental diseases that are determined by individual and community-level risk factors. Solutions to address complex environmental diseases, such as asthma and lead poisoning, require coordination and collaboration across federal, state and local health and environmental agencies, academic institutions, and related organizations. Additionally, such solutions require triangulation of strategies to reach at risk populations including 1) the education of the public health workforce – nurses, medical doctors, outreach workers, environmental regulators, sanitarians and industrial hygienists among others; 2) the development of sound and integrated information systems that track trends in health outcomes, environmental exposures, and sources; and 3) creative interventions that range from community-wide social marketing strategies to individual-level treatment interventions. This session will aim to address these issues through a diverse panel representing academia, national organizations including the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the Environmental Council of States (ECOS), regional organizations including the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) and state agencies. The case studies will draw on examples from the U.S.- Mexico border, the Merrimack Valley in New England, as well as national policy initiatives.
Learning Objectives: 1) To recognize the importance of coordination and collaboration across agencies in the prevention of environmental disease in children, the need for information systems to track environmental diseases and their determinants, and the challenges of developing and implementing integrated intervention and prevention strategies; 2) To increase knowledge about ongoing activities that aim to address asthma and lead poisoning through innovative policy and outreach strategies.
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information.
Organizer(s):Nsedu Obot, MPH
Brenda Afzal, RN, MS
Tunde Akinmoladun, PHD
Marybeth Smuts, PhD
Patrice Sulik
Presider(s):Jill S. Litt, PhD
4:30 PMEnvironmental house calls at the U.S. Mexico border
Roger B. Perales, BS, RS
4:48 PMHealthcare providers as educators: Provider influence on lead screening rates and hospitalizations due to asthma attacks in two Massachusetts communities
Tami L. Gouveia-Vigeant, MSW
5:06 PMAssessment of regional strategies for an integrated approach to reduction of asthma triggers in New England
David R. Brown, Margaret Round, Andrea L. Boissevain, Melinda Treadwell
5:24 PMIntegrating health and environment: Approaches to reducing the impact of asthma on children
Amy D. Kyle, PhD MPH, A. Christine Eppstein, LLB LLM, Kristin J. Ryan, MS, Fun Shimabukuro, MS, Patricia I. Elliott, JD MPH
5:42 PMState approaches to integrating children’s health and the environment
Patricia I. Elliott, JD MPH, A. Christine Eppstein, LLB LLM
Organized by:Environment
Endorsed by:Community Health Planning and Policy Development; Maternal and Child Health; Public Health Education and Health Promotion; Public Health Nursing; School Health Education and Services
CE Credits:CME, Environmental Health, Health Education (CHES), Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work

The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA