The future for our children

In recent years the close relationship between health, the environment and development, as well as the need to improve health in order to achieve sustainable development, is being progressively recognised.

Health is both an indicator as well as a resource of sustainable development. Good health underpins the fundamental and inter-linked social, economic and environmental pillars of sustainable development. Ill-health hampers economic and social development and contributes to unsustainable resource use and environmental degradation.

At least a quarter of the global burden of disease may be attributable to poor environmental conditions. Many infectious diseases are associated with poor environmental quality and lack of access to basic services such as clean water and energy. A number of non-infectious diseases such as cancers and chronic respiratory illnesses are also environmentally related. The emerging burden of environmental diseases is associated with risk factors such as chemicals in food, the air and water, deteriorating ambient air and water quality, physical factors such as noise or radiation and unhealthy working conditions.

Most European children today benefit from comparatively good-quality food, clean water, improved preventive health measures such as vaccinations, and a generally high standard of living. However, they are regularly exposed to a number of environmental hazards from pollutants in air, water, food, soil and surfaces and a number of consumer products. Children, from conception to adolescence, are particularly vulnerable to environmental pollutants during growth and development particularly because of their immature metabolism and a greater exposure of pollutants relative to their body weight. Children also have unique exposure patterns linked to the particular environments in which they live, learn and play.

In the context of sustainable development and the vulnerability of children, the Children's Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE) was developed to ensure that European member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) place children's environmental health at the top of the political agenda, to benefit today's children and to improve and sustain the health status of future generations. Ministers of health and the environment will be invited to adopt the CEHAPE at the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health to be held in Budapest between June 23-25 with the theme The Future for Our Children.

The text for the ministerial declaration was finalised by member states, including Malta, at the WHO Fourth Intergovernmental Pre-Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Health, hosted in Malta on March 24 and 25 by the Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Community Care, the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment and the Ministry for Urban Development and Roads (previously the Ministry for Transport and Communications).

The Children's Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe is a document for policy makers, which highlights the main commitments on children's environment and health to be undertaken by member states and translated into national children's environment and health action plans.

Child-specific actions for reducing and eliminating exposures to environmental risk factors that are particularly relevant for children, and which are not sufficiently addressed in general environmental health policy, are proposed in this document. A number of environmental risk factors are targeted and grouped under four regional priority goals - safe water and adequate sanitation, protection from injuries and adequate physical activity, clean outdoor and indoor air and chemical-free environments. These goals prioritise the protection of children from water and food-borne diseases, accidents and injuries, asthma and allergies, respiratory diseases arising from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, neuro-developmental disorders and cancers.

The CEHAPE, which in due course will be translated into a National Children's Environment and Health Action Plan, acknowledges that children have the right to grow and live in an environment that is conducive to achieving the highest attainable level of health and that protecting children's health and environment is crucial to the sustainable development of countries.

The National Commission for Sustainable Development will be launching a consultative process on a Sustainable Development Strategy for Malta during a one-day seminar to be held on April 24 at the Corinthia San Gorg Hotel, St Julians.

The consultative process is intended to lead to the drawing up of a Sustainable Development Strategy, over a period of five months, and will consist of two national conferences and a series of community and sectoral meetings aimed at fostering public participation in the process.

The conference is open to all and is free of charge. Participants are requested to fill an application form, available at www.mrae. gov.mt/ncsdform.asp.

More information can be obtained on 2295 2126.

Dr Vincenti is a consultant in public health medicine in the Health Division. She represents the Minister of Health (ex-ufficio) on the National Commission for Sustainable Development.