Abstract
AbstractKnowledge of the health impacts of environmental exposures (such as pollution disasters, poor air quality, water contamination, climate change) on children’s health has dramatically increased in the past 40 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 23% of all deaths worldwide were attributable to the environment, and 26% of deaths in children less than 5 years old could be prevented with removal of environmental risks factors. Yet, little has permeated medical education, leaving pediatric providers ill equipped to address these issues. To address this gap, members from the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units, a United States nationwide network of academically affiliated experts who have created numerous environmental health educational materials and programs, have identified fifteen core environmental health (EH) competencies needed by health care providers to enable them to effectively address environmental health concerns. These competencies can serve as the foundation for the development and implementation of relevant educational programs. The core EH competencies are based upon these foundational elements: 1) Definition of “children’s environmental health” that describes how environmental exposures (positive and negative) in early life influence the health and development in childhood and across the entire human life span 2) Children are not “little adults” and so have unique vulnerabilities to environmental hazards; 3) Environmental health inequities exist, causing some children to have a disproportionate amount of unhealthy exposures and consequently a greater risk of adverse effects; 4) Climate change will translate to numerous adverse health effects that will particularly affect children worldwide. In this article, the authors describe the core environmental health competencies and provide resources, online tools, strategies, and examples targeted to all levels of training and practice to better enable leaders and educators to bring this important content to the forefront.
Funder
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Education,General Medicine
Reference72 articles.
1. Eckerman I. Bhopal gas catastrophe 1984: causes and consequences. In: Nriagu J, editor. Encyclopedia of environmental health. Oxford: Elsevier Publishers; 2011. p. 272–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-52272-6.00359-7.
2. Center for Health EJ. Love Canal [http://chej.org/about-us/story/love-canal/. August 17, 2021.
3. American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Environmental Health. Pediatric environmental health. 4th ed. Itasca: American Academy of Pediatrics; 2019.
4. Landrigan PJ, Goldman LR. Children’s vulnerability to toxic chemicals: a challenge and opportunity to strengthen health and environmental policy. Health Aff (Millwood). 2011;30(5):842–50. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0151.
5. Prüss-Ustün A, Wolf J, Corvalán C, Bos R, Neira M. Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2016.
Cited by
8 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献