Fourth ministerial conference on environment and health

Children are the biggest victims of the environmental pollution

Children below five years of age are only 10% of the world population, but also 40% of the total number of victims of the environmental pollution - warns the World Health Organization (WHO) in its latest report after the announcement of the fact that more than 100.000 children in Europe die every year due to air and water pollution, as well as injuries. In July, the WHO organized a ministerial conference on health and environment in Budapest, where ministers of 50 European countries took part under the motto "For better future of our children". According to the WHO report, Macedonia does not fall among the most threatened countries, but is neither among the safest ones when it comes environmental pollution and the consequences of the environmental catastrophes.

In parallel with the ministerial conference, the non-governmental organizations from several European countries organized a "Planetary Forum on Health" with a number of discussions referring to the water and air-pollution, harmful chemicals in the cosmetic products and the social condition in which the young population grows. The civic sector has once again warned the governments of the European countries that the declarative statement are not enough to improve the environment, but that concrete steps must be taken. The Ministers have signed the Declaration and the Action Plan for Children Health and Protection of the Environment in Europe, binding them to have the national action plans on health and environment prepared by 2007. The Macedonian delegation was headed by the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning, Ljubomir Janev.

At the conference, WHO promoted the first atlas on the influence of the environment on children health. The fact is defeating that in the third millennium almost 2.4 billion people in the world have no approach to clean water and the impermissible presence of lead in our environment brings grave consequences on the mental and physical development of the youngest. Many children in the world die from malaria or various stomach diseases due to living in unsatisfactory hygienic conditions. The unsolved economic issues in many countries have lead to the situation where children from the poorest countries in the world serve as a cheap labour force, without the right to educate themselves and grow into healthy people.

 

M.K.