Children's environmental health depends on many factors where the live, learn and play.
These include:
- Built environment, including safe housing
- Exposure to radon, lead, and other hazards
- Access to clean water, air, and soil
- Vulnerability to natural disasters and climate related impacts
Children are more vulnerable to harmful environmental exposures than adults are. Not only are childrem developmentally susceptible, they also breathe more air, drink more water and eat more food per pound of body weight than adults.
The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) supports children's environmental health through several programs.
- The Environmental Health Assessment Program (EHAP) prioritizes particularly sensitive subpopulations, including children, when assessing health risks at contaminated industrial sites.
- The Choose Safe Places program helps childcare providers recognize and address health hazards at childcare programs.
- The Preventing Environmental Exposures for Children's Health Program (PEECH) supports community-based programming to prevent or reduce children's environmental exposures at the local level.
Learn more by visiting our children's environmental health webpages!
