Building capacity to protect children’s environmental health
A growing number of diseases in children are linked to unsafe and degraded environments. However, many health care providers are not trained to recognize, assess, diagnose, manage and prevent childhood diseases linked to the environment. In response to this, WHO has developed the training package on children’s environmental health for the health care sector. The training package is a set of more than 30 individual modules with internationally harmonized information and peer-reviewed material that aim to train health care professionals and enable them to become trainers of their peers. It includes modules on both “traditional” and emerging threats to children’s environmental health. The training package consists of:
- Instructional, how-to-use and post-training evaluation materials
- Introductory materials to children’s environmental health
- Modules focused on specific environmental risk factors, for example air pollution and lead
- Modules focused on childhood diseases and injuries linked to the environment, for example respiratory diseases
- Tools for health care providers, such as a paediatric environmental history
The WHO training package is periodically updated to ensure that it includes the most up-to-date research, advice and guidelines. Each module can be tailored to the specific needs of a country, community or professional group. Access the training package.
