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A word from the IFEH President Bernard Forteath Welcome to the first edition of Environment and Health International, produced by our new Editor Hadrian Bonello. Hadrian will be well known to some members as he is currently the Honorary Secretary of the Malta Association of Environmental Heath Officers. I know that Hadrian will build on the excellent work of his predecessor John Stirling. Hadrian is no stranger to the post of Honorary Editor having successfully edited the Malta Association’s excellent Tas-Sanita magazine for many years. To produce and publish a technical magazine twice a year is nearly impossible without a steady supply of good material and the active support of the membership. So if you have recently written an article for your own association, or carried out some research then why not submit an article to Hadrian? Since becoming President last year I have had the opportunity to attend the annual conference of two of our members, Sweden and Cyprus. At the end of May last year I was asked to speak at the Annual Conference of the Swedish Association of Environmental Health Professionals held in beautiful city of Stockholm. The Swedish Association was one of the first to take up membership of the Federation and it was nice to meet up again with many old friends. I was particularly fortunate to be provided with an instant translation, from Swedish into English, for all the excellent papers presented by our PRO Kia Regner. In November I attended the 20 th Anniversary Conference of the Association of Public Health Inspectors’ Cyprus which was held in Pissouri, Limassol. On this occasion I was asked to speak twice, about the Federation and to present a paper on Tobacco Control in Scotland. This conference, which was held to mark the 20 th anniversary of the formation of an association in Cyprus, was attended by senior politicians and government officials. The Federation was well represented at this conference with papers presented by Ray Ellard, Jan Homma, and Gerry McDermot. Both conferences were particularly well organised and I was pleasantly surprised, from the number of questions I was asked, by the interest shown in the work carried out by the Federation. A recruitment campaign in the Gulf region is underway, with help from members in the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanub. A personal letter from the President, together with material about the Federation, has been sent to a number of agencies in the Gulf region with the aim of developing closer links between environmental health professionals living and working there. However, the Federation is keen to contact 2
environmental health professionals worldwide so if anyone reading this article has a contact in a country not in membership of the Federation please pass on their contact details to me. The next Council meeting and AGM will be held in Singapore on the 18 and 19 July at the invitation of the Society of Environmental Health-Singapore and I hope that there will be a good attendance at this meeting, particularly from members in the Asia/Pacific area. Our colleagues in Singapore are at present working on the final arrangements for these meetings and further details will appear in the quarterly Newsletter. At the time of writing this article the media is full of news about a worldwide recession and how this will affect business and trade. Inevitably those who provide environmental and public health services, much needed in many communities, will be affected and some of the significant improvements in human health seen over the last decade could be put at risk. Equally any real chance that we have of tackling climate change could be put on hold by governments in an attempt to control public spending. Economist Lord Stern, who compiled the Stern Review into the Economics of Climate Change for the UK government in 2006, said in an interview at the end of last year, that he is optimistic that a global deal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions will be struck under the US presidency of Barak Obama. There is now a much deeper global understanding of climate change and its impact, and many countries have made clear commitment to reducing greenhouse gases. Having got this far in raising the profile and understanding of climate change it would be devastating and there would be serious economic consequences if we were to reduce our commitment now. As it happens the cost of tackling climate change is a lot less than some governments are spending at present to shore up the banking system. I hope that 2009 will bring success to all who work in the field of environment and health and, as always, my wish is that your government appreciate what is done in their name by so many dedicated and enthusiastic professionals. IFEH Declaration on Climate Change Dublin, Ireland June, 2006 Declaration on Climate Change The expected impact of climate change on human health and nature itself is worrying, if the enhanced green house effect develops as current science predicts. It is crucial that action is taken now. The International Federation of Environmental Health (IFEH) emphasizes prevention and mitigation strategies over adaptation. IFEH believes that the impact of climate change on human health as well on nature itself should be central to any prevention or mitigation strategy developed by nations. Therefore, IFEH calls upon every level of government, every governmental body, every company, enterprise and individual all over the world to pay serious attention to the causes, effects and impact of climate change, and to develop and implement strategies that minimize or cease the use or production of gases that contribute to the green house effect. 3
Page 1: Volume 11 Issue 1 June 2009 ISSN 16
Page 5 and 6: Editorial Hadrian Bonello This is m
Page 7 and 8: cation where we can. For example, f
Page 9 and 10: Food Quality, Safety, and Health Qu
Page 11 and 12: end to this trend. Reduced exposure
Page 13 and 14: The DelPHE African Academy of Envir
Page 15 and 16: health to act as catalysts in direc
Page 17 and 18: assigned Associate Professor Koos E
Page 19 and 20: Table 2. Objectives of the DelPHE A
Page 21 and 22: A Personal Perspective Tom Bell Tom
Page 23 and 24: IFF in Durban in 2004 - and I belie
Page 25 and 26: Developing an International Compete
Page 27 and 28: shortage of EHPs; this is certainly
Page 29 and 30: competencies - also known as profes
Page 31 and 32: Come to Vancouver in 2010 www.ifeh2
Page 33 and 34: a stream that will be of interest t
Page 35 and 36: others in helping to save our envir

ISSN 1683-3805

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