decision-makers and funding providers, in their examination of the human health effects of environmental problems, their prevention, remediation and treatment for individuals and communities.
This information comes from the Environmental Health e-mail list of the Public Health and the Environment Committee of the World Federation of Public Health Associations.
For more information or subscription contact:
Prof Peter Orris, MD, MPH
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago
1900 W. Polk St., Rm 500, Chicago, IL 60612
Tel. 312-864-5550 Fax 312-864-9701 porris@uic.edu
Food Security
The ECSAPHA Revitalisation workshop was organised in April 2007, in Entebbe, Uganda to lay the foundation for PHAs in the ECSA sub-region to play their part effectively. The following countries were represented at the Entebbe ECSAPHA Meeting: Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. The Business Sessions and Discussions looked at the historical perspective of ECSAPHA; the status and activities of individual national PHAs; wisdom and counsel from partners, e.g. ECSA-Health Community, AMANET-Trust, PHA British Columbia (Canada), CPHA, CIDA, Parliament of Uganda; concepts and practice of Transfer of Knowledge, Networking, and PH Best Practices; field visits to Uganda Clays Ltd, Institute of Public Health and a Traditional Media Show, and Action Planning. Workshop participants prioritised issues of Advocacy for Public Health; issues of creating and enabling (infrastructure) for ECSAPHA PHAs and public health; Identifying Best PH Practices; and seeking commitment to action by workshop participants. Advocacy issues were identified as Environment and Health; Community Engagement and Ethics of Community Health Research; and Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention.
Enabling Mechanisms were identified as knowledge sharing and mentoring among PHAs, e.g. proposal writing skills; communication and information sharing - creating a virtual community network; harmonising PH human resource training and professional development among member countries (e.g. KM4PH, ECSA Council of Public Health). Best PH Practices to be promoted were the possibility of writing ECSAPHA Position Papers; the possibility of an ECSAPHA Journal; systematizing an ECSAPHA Conference in consonance with national PHA Conferences; harmonizing governance principles among member national PHAs; and planning an ECSAPHA business meeting in September 2007, in Uganda, alongside the UNACOH (Uganda National Association of Community and Occupational Health) 20th Anniversary Conference.
The UNACOH Annual Scientific Conference and 6th Dr. Mathew Lukwiya Memorial Lecture will be held on 20-21 September 2007; and the ECSAPHA Business Meeting on 22 September 2007, in Kampala, Uganda.
