Environmental measures to improve children's health - Health and ...

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HEAL in actionProtecting children in Europe through advocacyand educational toolsThe Health and EnvironmentAlliance (HEAL) aims to make betterknown that the consequences ofa polluted environment are far worsefor our children than for ourselvesas parents and adults. Childrenabsorb a greater proportion of what they eat and the airthey breathe than adults, and have longer lives ahead ofthem to endure the effects.We have both projects and materials specifically focusingon children‘s health.Fun fact sheetsFor children themselves, we have a series of colourful,educational fact sheets about climate change and thequality of outdoor and indoor air. A chirpy pixie called Elfexplains to 5-11 year olds about breathing, our lungs andair pollution with the help of quizzes, games and colour-indrawings. These sheets were developed with the help ofscientific evidence from the European Respiratory Societyand in partnership with the European Lung Foundation(ELF), from whom the "Elf" character gets his name.The leaflets are available in eight languages.Fact sheets: "Dirty air and your lungs"(outdoor air); "Dirty airindoors and your lungs"; and, "Climate change and yourlungs". All fact sheets available in English, French, German,Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian and Spanish. Adult versions ofthe fact sheets are also available. Full details and downloadavailable at: http://cehape.env-health.orgComic strip storiesA comic strip book on hazardous chemicals and health hasbeen created for teenagers and young adults. "Choosingour Future" with stories that focus on children‘s exposureto hazardous chemicals, untested chemicals andhuman infertility, "chemical cocktails" and cosmetics, andpesticides use in agriculture is available in three languages(English, French and Dutch). It aims to build awareness andHEAL's postcard urged local authorities to act.increase action to break the links between harmfulchemicals in our environment and their effects onour health. It has been used in youth workshops and isparticularly popular in educational institutes, schoolsand youth groups.Stopping unnecessary pesticide sprayingOur advocacy work during recent revisions of Europeanpesticide legislation called for avoiding pesticide sprayingwhere children play. Our postcard to local authoritiesin Europe called for unnecessary "cosmetic" spraying ofpesticides to be stopped. Going pesticide free whereverpossible helps to protect children‘s health.Recently, our Sick of Pesticides campaign has looked atthe use of weed killer and insecticide spraying in schools.We began by producing a short guide on pesticides usedin schools. We surveyed local authorities about whichpesticides they were using in schools and the measuresthey took to avoid risks to children‘s health. The surveyfound that at least four potentially cancer-causingpesticides are being used.UK pesticides survey: "Pesticides - a toxic education?A survey of pesticides in UK schools", available atwww.pesticidescancer.eu. See also Pesticides in schools: shortguide.16 CEHAPE Awards, March 2010
Sharing the bestHEAL makes every attempt to share good examples ofchildren‘s health and environment projects, particularlyfrom our member organisations, many of whom focus onchildren’s environmental health. For example, HEAL’s VicePresident, Peter van den Hazel is Chair of the InternationalNetwork on Children’s Health Environment and Safety(INCHES).Genon Jensen, HEAL‘s Executive Director, is the officialrepresentative for health non-governmental organisationson the committee that steers the Environment and HealthMinisterial Process.CEHAPE "Healthier environments for children" is at:http://cehape.env-health.org/As well as co-organising the CEHAPE Awards, our website,"Healthier environments for children" provides informationon dozens of "case studies" of different projects in manyEuropean countries. The website provides key informationfor non-governmental organisations about the Children‘sEnvironment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE)and is linked to the World Health Organization‘s officialCEHAPE website section.Prize-winning youthvideoHEAL‘s experimental short film made by youngpeople in five countries was screened during theWHO Ministerial Conference in Budapest in 2004.This participatory video project gave very youngand older youths in Belgium, France, Hungary,Russia and the UK an opportunity to speak abouthow the environment is affecting their health –and to tell policy makers what should be doneabout it. The video entitled "It‘s our world, Ourfuture too: Young people’s voices on environmentand health priorities" won the Children’sEnvironmental Health Recognition Award fromthe US Environmental Protection Agency in 2006.The comic strip book "Choosing our Future" helps to answer thequestion: How does continual exposure to man-made chemicalsaffect our health?The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) aims topromote a healthy environment for healthy people.It represents a diverse network of more than 60 groupsrepresenting citizens', patients', women‘s groups, healthprofessionals, and environmental advocates across Europe.Working at the European level, HEAL focuses on chemicals,pesticides, climate change, air quality, mercury, children‘svulnerabilities and many other aspects of EU policy that arerelevant to people‘s health and the environment.Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, WHO European Region17
Page 4 and 5: Environmental measuresto improvechi
Page 6 and 7: Water & Sanitation1Country: Lithuan
Page 8 and 9: Air Quality3Country: BelgiumProject
Page 10 and 11: Mobility5Country: AustriaProject: '
Page 12 and 13: Youth participation7Country: Russia
Page 14 and 15: The award judgesHere is a brief int
Page 18 and 19: WECF in actionProtecting children t
Page 20: Helping children‘s health in Euro

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