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American Public Health Association
133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition
December 10-14, 2005
Philadelphia, PA
APHA 2005
 
3364.1: Monday, December 12, 2005 - 5:00 PM

Abstract #122035

Indicators of children’s health and the environment in North America: Report of a work in progress

Erica Phipps, Environmental Health Management Consultant, 7351 River Road, PO Box 602, Quyon, QC JOX 2V0, Canada, 819 458 1681, ephipps@magma.ca and Bruce Dudley, Senior Vice President, Health and Environment, The Delphi Group, 428 Gilmour Street, Ottawa, ON K2P 0R8, Canada.

Indicators play a key role in informing us about the status of an issue, encouraging action and tracking progress towards stated goals. We use indicators every day for numerous purposes, from tracking the stock market to following trends in diseases to measuring unemployment. What is much less common, however, are indicators that tell us about the environmental health challenges facing our children. North America is on track to be the first region in the world to publish a set of indicators of children's health and the environment. This multi-year project is led by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the International Joint Commission (IJC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States, and represents a contribution to the Global Initiative on Children's Environmental Health Indicators launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002) and led by WHO. The indicators address three thematic areas: (1) asthma and respiratory disease, (2) the effects of lead and other chemicals including pesticides, and (3) waterborne diseases. This session will preview some of the results of this soon-to-be released report, describe the approach taken to compiling indicators across borders and across the environment-health divide, and highlight the key challenges and opportunities that have been identified through this ground-breaking effort.

Learning Objectives:

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

[ Recorded presentation ] Recorded presentation

From a Level Playing Field to a Healthy One: Environmental and Health Protection in the Context of North American Free Trade – Challenges and Opportunities

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA