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According to the World Health Organization, a clean, safe, and healthy environment is essential for children to develop and thrive. Environmental insults to human health and well-being take on many forms, including environmental contaminants, lack of sanitation, socioeconomic concerns, and climate change factors--to which children are at heightened vulnerability. Supportive interventions in children's environmental health will affect not only the future lives of children but also the lives of families and communities. Translating knowledge to action provides a path forward in efforts to protect children. The 12 critical competencies developed by Del Rio et al. (2023) outlined an interdisciplinary approach to grappling with environmental health threats to children. These associated performance indicators map the proficiencies needed for competent performance in the public health sector and accurate assessment of environmental threats to children's health. The performance indicators for each critical competency were developed and intended as a guide for education and training. Keywords: curriculum development, competency-based education, evaluation, training, maternal and child health, environmental health, Introduction Children have increased vulnerability and can develop short- and long-term adverse physical and mental health effects after environmental exposures, disasters, and emergencies (Clayton et al., 2023; Etzel & Landrigan, [...]

Editor's Note: The National Environmental Health Association strives to provide up-to-date and relevant information on environmental health and to build partnerships in the profession. In pursuit of these goals, we feature this column on environmental health services from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in every issue of the Journal. In these columns, authors from CDC's Water, Food, and Environmental Health Services Branch, as well as guest authors, will share tools, resources, and guidance for environmental health practitioners. The conclusions in these columns are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position of CDC. Caitlyn Lutfy is a health communication specialist and lead for radon communication efforts. Dr. Adela Salame-Alfie is a health physicist and subject matter expert on radon. Carol McCurley is a lead health educator. All are part of the Radiation Studies Section within the National Center for Environmental Health at CDC., Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. after smoking (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2022a). Lung cancer deaths attributable to radon are preventable through testing and [...]

This 2017-2019 project started with a systematic assessment of three independent environmental and occupational health-related doctoral (PhD) programs, which are sponsored by different agencies, institutes, and schools within Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey: Exposure Science, Toxicology, and Environmental Health. In addition, we examined other graduate and undergraduate environment-related schools, departments, divisions, and institutes with degree programs (majors and minors) and certificate programs at Rutgers. Then, we conducted a survey of students. Data collected can result in enhancements to connections between entities, with multiple potential benefits. For example, for Rutgers School of Public Health, data can inform efforts to increase student applications to both master's and doctoral programs, as well as increase faculty participation in teaching and student advising. The project should result in more qualified student applications from students in their final year of master's programs. Subsequently, acceptances into and matriculations from PhD programs should also increase. Overall, this approach should provide more continuity of scholarship at schools, institutes and/or other environmental programs at Rutgers. In summary, this project's data can help support positive yet complex relationships across engaged entities at Rutgers and inform other U.S. environmental health programs., Introduction In 2003, following publication and release of Healthy People 2010 public health objectives, which included aspects of environmental health (EH), a revitalization strategy for essential EH services was published [...]

The focus of accreditation discourse since 2016 has been the changes made to the Council on Education for Public Health's (CEPH) accreditation criteria. A collection of competencies has bolstered a [...]

Editor's Note: As part of our continued effort to highlight innovative approaches to improve the health and environment of communities, the Journal is pleased to publish a bimonthly column from [...]

BACKGROUND: The Arabian Gulf nations are undergoing rapid economic development, leading to major shifts in both the traditional lifestyle and the environment. Although the pace of change is brisk, there [...]

Globally, urbanization has been occurring more rapidly in small-to-medium-sized cities in less-developed countries of Africa and Asia. Studies have suggested associations between traffic and industry-related air pollutants and adverse health outcomes. These chemical and physical exposure agents have also received increased attention for environmental quality concerns like global climate change. Most research to date, however, was conducted in larger industrialized country urban centers. Ibadan, Nigeria, is a historic city characterized by urban sprawl and increasing modernization as an academic and medical training center but is lacking in the implementation of environmental laws. The authors conducted their first training in Ibadan, Nigeria, May 19-23, 2008, based on initial collaborative work during 2006-2008 as well as a trip in mid-March 2007. They describe the rationale for and components of the training, likely one of the first of its kind in Africa. The title of the training was 'Advances in Community Outdoor and Indoor Air and Environmental Quality Monitoring and Exposure Assessment.' Content was multimedia and interdisciplinary. The authors included lectures, group discussions, field experiences at community and industrial sites with cross-sectional environmental monitoring, and planned pilot studies including master's thesis projects based on real-time, grant-funded monitoring equipment provided to the University of Ibadan, including protocol development demonstrations., Introduction In both industrialized nations like the U.S. and less-developed countries (LDCs) like Nigeria in sub-Saharan West Africa, rapid economic and industrial development has occurred coupled with population growth, urbanization, [...]

BACKGROUND: Characterization of the epigenome is a primary interest for children's en-vironmental health researchers studying the envvironmental influences on human populations, particularly those studying the role of pregnancy and early-life exposures on later-in-life health outcomes. OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to consider the state of the science in envvironmental epigenetics research and to focus on DNA methylation and the collective observations of many studies being conducted within the Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers, as they relate to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis. METHODS: We address the current laboratory and statistical tools available for epigenetic analyses, discuss methods for validation and interpretation of findings, particularly when magnitudes of effect are small, question the functional relevance of findings, and discuss the future for environmental epigenetics research. DISCUSSION: A common finding in environmental epigenetic studies is the small-magnitude epigenetic effect sizes that result from such exposures. Although it is reasonable and necessary that we question the relevance of such small effects, we present examples in which small effects persist and have been replicated across populations and across time. We encourage a critical discourse on the interpretation of such small changes and further research on their functional relevance for children's health. CONCLUSION: The dynamic nature of the epigenome will require an emphasis on future longitudinal studies in which the epigenome is profiled over time, over changing environmental exposures, and over generations to better understand the multiple ways in which the epigenome may respond to environmental stimuli., Introduction Epigenetics is defined as the mechanisms by which mitotically heritable perpetuation of gene activity occurs without modification of the underlying gene sequence. The most commonly studied epigenetic mechanisms are [...]

Decentralization has emerged as an important instrument of environmental and development policy in the last two decades. Presumed benefits of environmental policy decentralization depend in significant measure on broad participation in the programs that governments create to decentralize decision making related to resource management. This paper uses data from protected areas in Nepal's Terai to examine who participates in environmental decentralization programs. On the basis of our statistical analysis, we highlight the fact that the likelihood of participation in community-level user groups is greater for those who are economically and socially better-off. We also find that individuals who have greater access to and who visit government offices related to decentralization policies more often are also more likely to participate in user groups created by state officials. Finally, we find a negative correlation between education and levels of participation. Our study and analysis support the argument that for decentralization policies to be successful on equity issues, it is important to build institutional mechanisms that encourage poorer and more marginal households to access government officials, improve access to educational opportunities, and create incentives to promote more interactions between less powerful rural residents and government officials. Key words--environment, protected areas, forests, resource management, Nepal, South Asia

I've often made the point in this column that NEHA is a living entity. As with all living entities, 'feedback' is very important to us. Feedback allows a living system [...]

National Healthy Schools Day (NHSD) is April 5, 2016. NEHA is pleased to partner again with the Healthy Schools Network (www. healthyschools.org) in supporting and promoting this event. NEHA has [...]

In my past columns, I have been able to share some personal thoughts about how individuals can serve their chosen profession and organization. Before time runs out for me in [...]

Communicy participation in environmental health research has increased substantially since the 1990s after the initiation of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) environmental justice and community-based participatory research [...]

Community engagement in research is strongly encouraged by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, but there is little documentation as to how an [...]