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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Judith Mazique, JD, MPH, Department of Environmental Health, Texas Southern University, 3100 Cleburne Street, Houston, TX 77478, 503-235-6047, info@aehap.org, Patrick Bohan, CAPT Ret, MS, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, East Central University, 1100 East 14th Street, Ada, OK 74820, and Alejandra Tres, MPA, Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs, 2632 SE 25th Ave, Ste D, Portland, OR 97202.

Professional environmental health practitioners have always played a critical role in ensuring the safety of the very necessities of life: food, water, air and shelter. At this time, when environmental health professionals are most needed, they are few in number. Several reports have noted this shortage which is only amplified by a rapidly aging workforce.

In the absence of trained professionals, environmental health agencies often employ individuals who lack adequate academic preparation and training in environmental health theory and practice. The importance of having an adequately trained environmental health workforce is underscored by the importance attached to disease and injury prevention in the national health agenda. Both Healthy People 2000 and 2010 give prominent attention to the role of environmental factors in preventing or controlling acute (infectious) disease and injuries and chronic diseases.

Nowhere is the shortage of environmental health practitioners felt more sharply than in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups into the field of environmental health. People of color are severely underrepresented and recruitment indicators show that this trend will not ease without significant action. Furthermore, the increased risk of environmental health diseases in these groups underscores the need for action

With this awareness comes the responsibility to create a cadre of environmental health leaders who can address the environmental risks involved in those communities which are most impacted. AEHAP has responded to these needs with a series of programs that have quickly created measurable improvements in both the number and diversity of the environmental health pipeline.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the impact of the current shortage of environmental health practitioners, particularly among people of color, and the need to both increase and diversify the workforce.
• Increased understanding of the strategies to increase quantity and diversity among students and practitioners of environmental health.

Keywords: Minorities, Environmental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation