"Let's Ensure a Healthy Future" - WECF side event at WHO 6th Ministerial Conference
Protecting children from exposure to harmful chemicals to avoid irreversible damage.
14.06.2017 |
Protecting children from exposure to harmful chemicals to avoid irreversible damage. With this motto, WECF organised the Side Event "Let's Ensure a Healthy Future" at the WHO Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health side event.
Side event on children’s health
Greater understanding of life cycle health costs, risks, and costs of inaction are urgently needed in terms of children’s exposure to harmful chemicals. That’s why WECF invited participants to share experiences children's environmental health risks during a side event discussing various sources of exposure and best practices for moving forward.
Environmental Health Costs and Risks
Concrete good practices were shown from projects on non-chemical alternatives and chemicals, water protection and circular economy policies from Albania, Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Georgia and Moldova.
Evolving understanding of the health costs and risks, the costs of inaction and good examples are urgently needed. Examples of this are alternatives to chrysotile Asbestos, Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs), Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), heavy metals and water-related pollution.
The side event was organised by WECF ‘s network of partners from across the WHO-Euro region, in collaboration with HEAL, IPEN and the German Environment Agency UBA. Other invited participants to share experiences from Republic of Moldova, Denmark, Sweden, France and the Netherlands.
Speakers were
- Maria Krautzberger, President, German Federal Agency of Environment (UBA)
- Marietta Khurshudyan, Armenian Women for Health and a Healthy Environment, Armenia
- Miroslava Jopkova, ARNICA, Czech Republic
- Olga Ponizova, ECO Accord, Russia
- Caroline Paul, Ministry of Health, France
- Sascha Gabizon, WECF International
- Dr. Michaela Vasilescu, Bucharest University, Romania
- Dr. Claudia Wendland, WECF Germany
- Natasa Dokovska, Journalists for Human Rights, FYR Macedonia
The event was moderated by Dr. Claudia Wendland & Sascha Gabizon from WECF
Brigitte Dessing from the Netherlands Ministry of Environment (MinIenM), Programme Health and Environment, acted as respondent.
Download the presentations
- WECF - Parma declaration (Dr. Claudia Wendland)
- Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment (Marietta Khurshudyan)
- Menstrual Hygiene Management in Macedonia (Natasha Dokovska Spirovska)
- The recycling of brominated flame retardants contaminates children's toys (Miroslava Jopkova)
- Towards a Healthy School Environment - Sanitation in Rural Schools (Dr. Claudia Wendland)
- Water and Sanitation Safety Planning Approach and the WECF Compendium (Mihaela Vasilescu)
- Lead in paint (Olga Ponizova, Olga Speranskaya)
- Response from the Ministry of infrastructure and Environment of the Netherlands (Brigitte Dessing)
More information on WECF activities at the conference can be found on our WECF in Ostrava page.
Related News
Policy Dialogue On Sustainable Development, Health and Social justice in Tirana, Albania
Linking the Ostrava Declaration of the European Environment and Health Process to SDGs Agenda 2030
10.03.2018
UN Summit on Eradicating Poverty and Promoting Prosperity in a Changing World
8 days of advocacy and activism for a gender just future within the SDG process. WECF recently attended the UN summit on the Sustainable Development Goals (High Level Political Forum, HLPF) in New York and reports back on their experiences.
10.08.2017
Youth at the heart of ECO Forum's participation in Ostrava
Reporting back on WHO’s regional conference on environment and health, where WECF (and its ECO Forum delegation of 23 youths and seniors) was to advocate for a healthy future
23.06.2017
"Let's Ensure a Healthy Future" - WECF side event at WHO 6th Ministerial Conference
Protecting children from exposure to harmful chemicals to avoid irreversible damage.
14.06.2017
Midterm review of environment and health progress in the European Region
From 28 to 30 April WECF was part of the Ecoforum delegation, representing environmental organisations from the European Region, participating at the mid-term review meeting of the WHO European Environment and Health Process in Haifa, Israel
15.05.2015