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Published in Fall 2001
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Mexico holds first national Workshop on Children's Health and the Environment
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Environment and Health Secretaries sign joint declaration
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Mexico’s first national Workshop on Children’s Health and the Environment was held in Mexico City on 21–22 June. Its purpose was to give top priority to the effects of the environment on children’s health in Mexico by promoting the identification, development and implementation of policies, programs, strategies and actions to protect Mexican children from environmental risks, writes Carlos Santos-Burgoa.
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By Dr. Carlos Santos-Burgoa
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Read related article: Lead and children’s health
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Due to the enormous interest from all sectors—academic, social, private and public—the first nationwide workshop on Children’s Health and the Environment to be held in Mexico, had to be expanded to receive five times more participants and 40 more speakers than originally expected. This enthusiastic response from civil society reflects the awareness of and concern for children’s health and the environment in Mexico.
The idea of the workshop arose in June 2000, when the Council of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) adopted Council Resolution 00-10 on Children’s Health and the Environment. The Resolution recognized that children may be particularly vulnerable to environmental risks and committed the environmental authorities of Canada, Mexico and the United States to work together to develop a cooperative agenda for action to protect children from such risks. The Resolution further proposed to support the development of a national workshop in Mexico. Given the fundamental health component, the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Secretaría del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales—Semarnat) sought the collaboration of the General Directorate of Environmental Health of the Secretariat of Health (Secretaría de Salud—SSA), in coordinating and implementing the workshop. Thus, both Secretariats jointly organized the workshop, with the support of the CEC.
It was made clear at the workshop that there are environmental risk factors facing Mexican children that are different from those in the other countries of North America. For example, the quality and availability of water in Mexico reflects an acute social inequality, and infectious intestinal diseases are among the leading causes of infant mortality in the states with majority indigenous populations. It should be noted that the availability of water and the distribution of disinfected water have increased in recent years. This is reflected in the 75 percent decrease, between 1991 and 1998, of deaths from infectious intestinal diseases in children under five.
Similarly, in Mexico’s rural and indigenous zones, the use of firewood for cooking affects indoor air quality, with average PM10 levels measured at five times the national outdoor air quality standards. One in three Mexicans in indigenous communities uses firewood for cooking, and statistics show that acute respiratory diseases are the leading cause of death among children under five in states with majority indigenous populations.
The problem of children’s exposure to heavy metals was also discussed. For example, the persistent use of enameled earthenware fired at low temperatures for storing and cooking food constitutes one of the main sources of lead exposure. Studies performed in rural areas have found that babies whose mothers use enameled earthenware have twice as much lead in their blood as babies whose mothers do not use such earthenware. For this reason, there is a program in place under the National Fund for the Development of Arts and Crafts (Fondo Nacional para el Fomento de las Artesanías—Fonart) to find a substitute for lead in the pieces’ enamel, offering alternatives to potters that do not threaten children’s health and the general population.
The proceedings of the workshop will be summarized in a book designed to publicize the current thinking in the area and to identify the shortcomings of existing information, as well as the areas that most need to be improved.
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| Secretaries Frenk and Lichtinger confer with the author during a break in the workshop. |
The workshop closed with the signature of a joint declaration by the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, Lic. Víctor Lichtinger, and the Secretary of Health, Dr. Julio Frenk Mora. This statement establishes "... a State Policy allowing for the joint prevention and handling of health risks arising from environmental factors, in order to attain a framework of health-environment sustainability." Specifically, a key aspect is the inclusion of the initiative on "A Healthy Environment for a Healthy Childhood," which proposes that the air, water, food, and the places where Mexican girls and boys live, learn and play should be subject to prevention and care measures. What better way to close a workshop on children’s health and the environment?
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