PAHO News –September 4, 2003

 

PAHO News is also available on the Web!
http://www.csih.org/synergy/synergy.html 

 

In this issue:

–HEALTH CARE SUCCESSESS IN ECUADOR

-NEW ISSUE OF PERSPECTIVES IN HEALTH MAGAZINE NOW AVAILABLE

-PAHO/AMRO'S HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS FOR CHILDREN STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN

-WATER, SANITATION, AND HEALTH WEB SITE

–IFCS FORUM IV: RECOMMENDATIONS TO PREVENT HARMFUL EXPOSURES TO
CHEMICALS

-HEALTHY SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS WEB PAGE

-ONLINE RESOURCE CENTRE ON SCHOOL SANITATION AND HYGIENE EDUCATION

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HEALTH CARE SUCCESSESS IN ECUADOR

During her recent official visit to Ecuador, Pan American Health
Organization director Dr. Mirta Roses Periago had an opportunity to
verify the success of local and community health programs in that
nation. Dr. Roses visited the mostly-indigenous municipalities of
Cotacachi and Pedro Moncayo, where she met with mayors and other
community leaders. These townships, with the help of PAHO programs, have
been able to overcome cultural differences through the establishment of
health networks that also make use of traditional medicine.It is an
intra-community work environment. Different regions of Ecuador joined in
a District Health Plan, in which the local communities have a role in
the decision-making of health and development issues.  For the full
report, visit: www.paho/org/news  

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NEW ISSUE OF PERSPECTIVES IN HEALTH MAGAZINE NOW AVAILABLE

Volume 8, Number 2, 2003 issue of the PAHO magazine Perspectives in
Health is now available.  Features include “Alma-Ata revisited” (a
quarter-century later, a key participant looks back at the
accomplishments of the historic conference...and at what went wrong);
“Love, Tears, Betrayal...and Health Messages” (how telenovelas, or Latin
American soap operas, have proven effective agents of social change);
“An Act of Love: Vaccination Week in the Americas”

(health professionals and volunteers in 19 countries of Latin America
and the Caribbean joined forces in early June for the first regionwide
Vaccination Week in the Americas); “Cuba's Jewel of Tropical Medicine”
(the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine, Cuba's pre-eminent
medical scientific research centre, has carved for itself an
indispensable niche in the global fight against tropical and infectious
diseases); “Hasta la Vista, Paradise!” (the worldwide shortage of
trained nurses has taken a particular toll on the Caribbean, where
foreign recruiters have succeeded in creating a full-blown nursing brain
drain).

Visit: www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/persp17eng.pdf

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PAHO’S HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS FOR CHILDREN STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN

The Pan-American Health Organization has recently published its strategy
and action plan for "Healthy Environments, Healthy Children: A Movement
to Achieve Healthy Environments for Children of the Americas". With a
vision towards ensuring that children in the region can live, grow,
learn and play in an environment supportive of good health, the movement
is four-pronged in its approach: 1) to communicate, educate, and raise
awareness; 2) to generate information and report indicators to assess
the status of children's environmental health; 3) to promote public
policies to protect children's environmental health; and 4) to implement
regional and global actions to better protect children from
environmental threats. To read the strategy/action plan document in
full, please see:
http://www.cepis.ops-oms.org/bvsana/fulltext/chelac2en.pdf

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WATER, SANITATION, AND HEALTH WEB SITE

Household water security and adequate hygiene and sanitation are
essential components of healthy environments for children. WHO's Water,
Health and Sanitation Program has recently launched a new Web site:
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/en/. The site features a
wealth of information materials, technical guidelines/studies, and
advocacy tools. Fact sheets on more than 20 water-related diseases, many
of which disproportionately affect children, and estimates of the global
burden of water-related disease are available. One can also find
guidelines on important water safety issues like drinking water quality
and recreational bathing waters; guidelines for the latter are soon to
be published in the Bathing Waters section.

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IFCS FORUM IV: RECOMMENDATIONS TO PREVENT HARMFUL EXPOSURES TO CHEMICALS

In preparation for the Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Forum on
Chemical Safety (Bangkok, Thailand, 1-7 November 2003), the decision
document "Protecting Children from Harmful Chemical Exposures" is now
available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish:
http://www.who.int/ifcs/Forums/ForumIV/Meet_docs.htm. The document
provides an overview of environmental health risks to children; it also
explores chemical hazards and sustainable development, why children are
particularly vulnerable to chemicals, chemical exposures and children's
health, some chemical substances of concern, and international action to
protect children from harmful chemical exposures. At Forum IV,
governments and other stakeholders will agree on actions and
partnerships to reduce chemical risks and prevent childhood exposure.
The decision paper will be accompanied by a soon-to-be-published
in-depth information document.

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HEALTHY SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS WEB PAGE

The Healthy School Environments page of the United States Environmental
Protection Agency Web site serves as a portal to on-line resources on
how to protect children from environmental risks in schools. Under
"topics", the site provides a wealth of information on diverse
environmental risk factors (mould and moisture, ventilation, pest
management, lead, mercury, asbestos, among many others). The Healthy
School Environments page is intended to help facility managers, school
administrators, architects, design engineers, school nurses, parents,
teachers and staff address environmental health issues in schools. More
information: http://cfpub.epa.gov/schools/index.cfm.

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ONLINE RESOURCE CENTRE ON SCHOOL SANITATION AND HYGIENE EDUCATION

UNICEF and the IRC (International Resource Centre on water supply,
sanitation and hygiene) provide an online resource centre on school
sanitation and hygiene education. Located at
http://www.irc.nl/sshe/index.html, the site features program updates,
"Notes and News on SSHE" (a place for those working on school sanitation
and hygiene education to share experiences), articles, papers, resource
books, manuals and advocacy materials.

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