Washington, DC, April 1, 2010 (PAHO)—The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is pleased to present the translation into Spanish of the book Environmental Health: From Global to Local, whose editor is Dr. Howard Frumkin, current Director of the National Center for Environmental Health, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
This excellent publication is aimed at building, systematizing, and disseminating knowledge, methods, and techniques for the environmental management, and it has been made possible by the joint effort of our Sustainable Development and Environmental Health Area and the Expanded Textbook and Instructional Materials Program (PALTEX).
Prologue and Table of Contents
It is estimated that the environmental risk factors have, at the world level, a significant role in more than 80 important diseases and lesions. Twenty four percent of the overall burden of disease and 23% of the deaths could be prevented through environmental interventions, while 33% diseases in children under 5 years-old are due to the exposure to avoidable environmental risks, mainly affecting the poorer populations. With an interdisciplinary approach, this book takes into account environmental and economic development relations, including the subjects of special importance and present time as the environmental justice and the ethics in environmental health.
The book analyzes the real environmental public health practice, and it offers students a comprehensive introduction to environmental health. It provides an overview of methods and paradigms used in this exciting field, ranging from ecology to epidemiology, from toxicology to environmental psychology, from genetics to ethics to religion. The authors survey the major issues in contemporary environmental health, ranging from global issues such as climate change and war to regional issues such as air, water, transportation, and energy to local issues such as food safety, pest control, and occupational health. The book includes a strong focus on the real-world practice of environmental public health, offering chapters on such applied topics as risk assessment, risk communication, health services, regulations, and legal remedies.
PAHO has included an appendix on `Sustainable Development and Environmental Health`, of the book Health in the Americas 2007, a PAHO publication that contains conditions of health and its trends in the `Region of the Americas`.
PALTEX: a source of educational access in health
On occasion of the next official book launch of Salud ambiental: de lo global a lo local, in an event to be carried out in Washington, DC on Wednesday 7 April 2010, at 12:00 o'clock during the ceremony of the "World Health Day", the PALTEX Program will distribute the book to all students and health professionals of all Latin America at prices that represent a real incentive to them. The PALTEX Program was created in 1967 within the strategy of PAHO technical cooperation to the countries of Latin America, in collaboration with the Pan American Health and Education Foundation. PALTEX is a special program of the Health Systems and Services Area of PAHO, whose mission is to help to improve the quality and the impact of the basic and continuing educational process in the Region, through the offer of relevant and pertinent educational materials, like the book Salud ambiental: de lo global a lo local, that are accessible and updated for students and health workers.
To request the book please visit our online PALTEX Catalog.
PAHO was established in 1902 and is the oldest public health organization of the world. It is the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization and works with the countries in order to improve the health and quality of life of its inhabitants.
