About the Congress

Introduction

The African continent has increasingly been affected by various environmental health challenges. A great proportion of the health problems in this region are linked to environmental factors not least drinking water, sanitation and infectious disease control. Various efforts have been made to mitigate these factors; however such interventions have largely been from the greater medical perspective. Little emphasis has been put on disease prevention and the wide range of environmental health aspects that affect human health. One of the major challenges to our profession has been the very low levels of environmental health awareness and the lack of sustainable strategies for environmental health controls.

Nevertheless, globally we are seeing an increase in the support and understanding of the importance of the environmental health profession, and the key role that it plays in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and, on a local basis, the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy.

 

This was the basis of the 1st All Africa Environmental Health Congress held in Nairobi, Kenya in August 2007(http://www.aphok.org/conf2007/confinfo.htm). The congress was a momentous one, not only in the number of participants who attended from throughout the continent, but also in the sharing of information and experience between environmental health professionals. The congress was organized by the Association of Public Health Officers of Kenya (APHOK) in conjunction with the International Federation of Environmental Health (IFEH) Africa Group and academic institutions offering environmental health qualifications.

 

Following this, Malawi formed a group of key partners containing the University of Malawi – The Polytechnic, the Ministry of Health and the Environmental Health Professionals, who together proposed to the IFEH Africa Group to hold the 2nd All Africa Environmental Health Congress in 2010.

 

It is against this background that the International Federation of Environmental Health (IFEH) in collaboration with the Government of Malawi and the University of Malawi welcomes the submission of abstracts for papers to be presented at the 2nd IFEH Africa Group All Africa Environmental Health Congress to be held in Lilongwe, Malawi from 24th – 27th May 2010 at Cresta Crossroads Hotel.

Vision


The vision of this congress is the improvement of the standards of environmental health in Africa.


Objectives of the Congress

 

  • Raise the profile of environmental health in Africa
  • Sharing best practices of environmental health services delivery in Africa
  • Enhance inter-country collaboration in environmental health practice
  • Addressing the training needs of environmental health
  • Promote the environmental health needs of children in Africa
  • Promote environmental health research
Last Updated on Friday, 18 September 2009 11:12
 
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