The WHO’s Regional Office for Europe has released a new publication on “Children’s Health and Environment, Developing Action Plans” providing guidelines for countries on how to implement the Children’s Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe adopted by WHO European Member States at the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held in Budapest in June 2004.

The document is divided into three parts:
 The first part provides the scientific evidence of children’s vulnerability and an overview of environmental hazards to children’s health.
 The second part is a table proposing child-specific actions with concrete ways in which a country can work to reduce children’s exposure to environmental risk factors.
 The third part focuses on the tools required to ensure implementation of the national action plans (carrying out strategies for advocacy and information, use indicators, etc.).

The publication is targeted to policy-makers at the local, national and European level, providing them with clear guidelines, notably regarding the precautionary approach, that was keenly debated during the Budapest Conference.

It is also a very useful tool for all decision-makers, especially because it provides a table of concrete indicators for monitoring progress towards the CEHAPE regional priority goals.  [1]