Health Care Providers and the Environment:

The World Health OrganizationTranslating Research into Practice

Kristy Ivicek, WHO Intern

March 6, 2009

World Health Organization

• Directing & coordinating health authority for UN

• Provides guidance to governments and health care professionals worldwide

• HQ in Geneva, Switzerland– 6 Regional Offices– 147 Country Offices

Outline of the Talk

I. Global occupational/ environmental health picture

II. Role of WHO

III. Internship Project

Environmental Health: the Global Impact

• Nearly a quarter of global disease burden attributed to environmental risk factors (WHO, 2006)

• Certain groups carry disproportionate share of burden– Low-income regions– Children (10% of population, 25% of

death/illness)

• Relationship to occupational health-- especially in less-developed countries

Occupational and Environmental Health

• 50% of 3 billion workers worldwide in unhealthy conditions

• 170 million children work in hazardous environments

• Less-developed country issues• Global Plan of Action on Workers’ Health

2008-2017

Social Ecological Model of the Workplace

The State of Environmental Health Research at WHO

• Estimating Global Burden of Disease

• Children’s Environmental Health Indicators

Research to Practice: Building Capacity in the Health Workforce

• Frontline health professionals not prepared to address environmental health

• Under-utilization of key resource for research dissemination, advocacy, and data collection!

Children’s Environmental Health Modules

• Collection of over 30 modules to train health care workers

• 1 day to 40 hour course

• Being adapted into Spanish, French and Russian

• Current effort-- adapting them for nurses

Focus on Nurses• Largest group of HCPs globally

• Present in areas most affected

• See patients in community: home, school, workplace

• Trusted by patients and law-makers alike

• Long history of involvement in social justice issues

Healthcare Providers Worldwide

Nursing Modules• Two modules:

– “Introduction to Children’s Environmental Health”– “Environmental Health Assessment”

• Emphasize nursing roles:– Practice– Education– Research– Advocacy

Nursing Module #1: Introduction

• Outline:– Defined CEH and general concepts– “Children are not little adults”– Large-scale implications– The role of nurses– Major hazards

• Digest Version

Nursing Module #2: Assessment

• Incorporating pediatric environmental health history into nursing practice

• Next steps-- in-depth assessment and referral

• Links to large-scale activities– one possibility-- the Green Page

The Green Page

– Instrument for recording a child's environmental conditions

– Harmonized data collection

– Captures data for use in indicators

– Provides a basis for alerting authorities to environmental problems that need to be corrected

WHO

Updates

• WHO Executive Board resolution: role of the health sector in climate change

• June 7-10: International Conference on Children’s Health and the Environment (Busan, Republic of Korea)

Summary

• Environmental health is an important global issue

• WHO is a leader in translating research to practice and policy

• Nurses and other health care providers are key in addressing the environmental burden of disease

References• Images from http://www.who.int• UNEP, WHO, & ILO (2007). Labour and the Environment: A

Natural Synergy. Nairobi, Kenya: UNEP.• WHO (2003). Making a Difference: Indicators to Improve

Children’s Environmental Health. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO.• WHO (2005). Children’s Health and the Environment: A Global

Perspective. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO.• WHO (2006). Preventing Disease Through Healthy

Environments: Towards an Estimate of the Environmental Burden of Disease. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO.

• WHO (2006). The World Health Report 2006: Working Together for Health. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO

• WHO EURO (2008). Protecting Health in Europe from Climate

Change. Copenhagen, Denmark: WHO EURO.

Questions?

Public Health and the Environment:www.who.int/peh/en

Children’s Environmental Health: www.who.int/ceh/en