Major environmental threats to children

In its broadest sense, the environment encompasses all factors that are external to the human host, and children may be exposed to numerous environmental hazards from multiple sources and in a variety of settings. 

WHO estimates that over 30% of the global burden of disease can be attributed to environmental factors and that 40% of this burden falls on children under five years of age, who account for only 10% of the world s population (WHO, 2004a). At least three million children under five years of age die annually due to environment-related illnesses. Environmental risk factors act in concert and are exacerbated by adverse social and economic conditions, particularly poverty and malnutrition. 

It should also be noted that millions of children suffer from unsafe environments, abuse, and neglect due to armed conflict, natural disasters (e.g. hurricanes and earthquakes), and human-made disasters. Many of these children become refugees and/or orphans and are engaged in forced, hazardous, and exploitative labour. These marginalized children suffer from the very beginning of their lives. Many are invisible , and over 36% of all births go unregistered, mainly in developing countries (UNICEF, 2006). 

For the majority of the world s population, the primary environmental threats continue to be the following traditional risks (1) unsafe drinking-water, (2) poor sanitation, (3) indoor air pollution from household solid fuel use, (4) diarrhoeal, infectious, and vector- 

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In 2005, the Second International Conference of Environmental Threats to Children, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, assessed major environmental threats to children in Central and Latin American countries and identified priority areas for research collaboration. 

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