Prioritizing Children: Environmental Health Indicators for China
Executive Summary
Globally, more than one in four childhood deaths under the age of five are attributable to unhealthy environments.1 Indicators that systematically track, assess and report on the risks and impact of the environment on children’s health can be used to: •• Quantify the magnitude of a public health problem •• Detect notable trends in environmental exposures and health outcomes •• Identify subpopulations at risk of environmentally attributable illnesses •• Generate hypotheses about the relationship between health and the environment •• Direct and evaluate measures for control and prevention •• Facilitate the development of evidence-based policies Researchers increasingly use children’s environmental health indicators (CEHIs) to link environmental factors and adverse children’s health outcomes. Children are especially vulnerable to environmental risks due to their distinct biological and social characteristics. In this report, we identify some of the most important children’s environmental health indicators for China, based on a rigorous methodology and process, including a thorough literature review of more than 7,500 articles published in the last 20 years. We also provide more detail on environmental hazards that are crucial determinants of children’s health in China: climate change, air pollution, industrial waste pollution, the built environment, environmental tobacco smoke and food safety. While there are hundreds of CEHIs that can be and have been developed, one of the aims of this project was to prioritize a list of CEHIs for initial tracking, awareness and development. The table below represents the top 22 CEHIs that we have prioritized for China. Environmental Exposure Indicators
6
1
Annual mean concentration of PM2.5 in the given administrative location (μg/m3 )
2
Percentage of children under 18 years of age living in households where solid fuels are used for cooking and heating
3
Volume of industrial waste gas emission (tons)
4
Number of children under 18 years of age living in households in which at least one adult smokes on a regular basis
5
Percentage of soil failing national pesticide standard
