On the first morning of the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, Genon Jensen won the only ovation for her presentation introducing EPHA’s work and membership and urging the EU and national governments to take their responsibilities seriously in relation to the environment and children’s health. She told the audience of about 400 people that as an individual and the mother of a young daughter, she could not do much on her own to protect her child’s outdoor environment. For real improvements, EU legislation and strong national action were needed. She urged Ministers and representatives to put health at the centre of environment policy. She said that EEN and other NGOs were playing their part by highlighting best practices, providing education for health professionals and policy makers, and giving feed back from communities on their environmental health concerns.
The Ministerial Roundtable with civil society, which was organised by EEN, EPHA and ECO-Forum, comprised two sessions: one on air quality and water and the second on reducing chemicals and improving urban transport. This provided an opportunity for several examples of successful European health NGO activities to be presented. These included a case study of how several major European hospitals are addressing concerns about phthalates, a toxic chemical used in disposable plastic tubing, and the experience in Belgium in which doctors are being provided with written materials to inform them about air quality concerns.
Between the two sessions, EEN video ¨It’s our world, our future too¨ was screened and greatly appreciated. It allowed children and young people from deprived communities in the UK, Belgium and Russia to express their concerns. Their perspectives added new topics to the Budapest agenda. A young Russian woman spoke about the burden on mental health resulting from environment degradation, and a boy living on a housing estate in the UK was most worried that his little sister would pick up one of the used syringes that were often found lying around.
The Healthy Planet News was also warmly welcomed. Our evaluation revealed that almost everyone who read it felt they knew more about EEN and about NGO positions on health policy as a result of reading it. Most respondents said they liked it because it introduced key personalities and was quick and easy to read. Some said they would have liked more news from the previous day, especially from proceedings in the Ministerial Conference. This was particularly emphasised by those taking part in the Health Planet Forum who were denied access to the main conference. The most heartening aspect of the evaluation was how many people had already sent it to their offices, members or press contacts at home, and how many others intended to use it as the basis for report backs, articles in newsletters and statements to the national press. EEN Executive Committee member Lew Gerblinsky, Green Doctors - ISDE Ukraine, has already translated some articles into Russian, which he is sharing widely with NGOs in CIS countries. Available at the Green Doctors website
EEN was not able to hold an official launch as had been hoped. However, Dr Roberto Bertollini, who was due to take part in the event, told us that he welcomed the arrival of a European health and environment network. He said that it would help communicate to the public by raising awareness and concerns, which would in turn put pressure on policy makers. He also welcomed the fact that it would add to the number of available case studies of successful projects.
Dr Bertollini took the opportunity to indicate that EEN had a role to play in helping WHO and EU institutions to avoid duplication of efforts. ¨If EEN is seen as the place where co-ordination takes place, this would be most useful...because you have knowledge of both sides,¨ he said.
