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«Tomorrow's Children will be Our Judges...»
European ministers of health and
of environment and other high–ranking delegates from the WHO European Region
today unanimously committed themselves to a set of specific actions to ensure a
better future for the children of the WHO European Region. In the Children's
Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE) and the Conference
Declaration ministers agreed on a series of concrete measures to reduce the
impact on children's health of air pollution, water, chemicals and injuries,
which account for one third of all deaths and diseases in the group aged 0–19
years.
«Tomorrow's
children will be our judges,» says Dr Marc Danzon, WHO Regional Director for
Europe. «The care we have taken today in crafting these policy options is the
legacy of European leadership in health and environment, and the further efforts
needed to shepherd these recommendations into national and regional and global
realities will be our testing ground. Success will be measured by a fairer,
healthier and safer future for our children.»
The ministers called for
national plans to be developed by 2007. A set of actions was elaborated from
which Member States can select the most appropriate, with an emphasis on
prevention strategies as the most cost–effective. The table of child–specific
actions on environment and health complements and expands the CEHAPE, covering
up to 15 risk factors.
The objective of these measures
is to preserve and improve the environments where children live, study and play,
by such means as:
- limiting the access of motor vehicles, especially
those using diesel fuel, to school zones;
- establishing monitoring and smog alert systems in
cities;
- banning smoking in public places, especially schools
and health facilities;
- ensuring disposal of wastewater away from schools and
recreational areas, including public beaches;
- monitoring
the chemical contaminants of water and soil most hazardous to
children.
Carrying out these actions requires improved cooperation between the health,
environment and other sectors, as well as consolidation and expansion of WHO's
cooperation with the enlarged European Commission.
Recognizing the contribution of ministerial conferences on environment
and health to the exchange of information and the establishment of multilateral
partnerships, Europe's ministers have called for a fifth such conference for
2009, with the support of a new European Environment and Health
Committee.
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