Pan American Health Organization

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Environmental Issues in the U.S.-Mexico Border

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Air pollution
Brick making
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New settlements without proper planning
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Poor housing and living conditions
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abandoned waste and macro -breeding sites for
mosquitoes
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Border Crossings on a regular day
400 million legal crossings per year South to
North 3.8 million commercial truck crossings per
year South to North
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Border XXI Program

• 1983 La Paz agreement designated six
  work groups (Air, water, hazardous waste,
  contingency planning, pollution prevention and
  cooperative enforcement)
• 1996 Three groups were added natural resources,
  environmental
• information and environmental
  
• health

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Border XXI Environmental Health Working Group
- Mission -

• To improve the environmental health of
  U.S.-Mexico border communities by identifying and
  addressing those environmental conditions posing
  the highest human health risk
• NOTE A selection of a rational list of
  indicators is required to accomplish this mission

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Border 2012 Program
- Mission -

• To protect the environment and public health in
  the U.S.-Mexico border region, consistent with
  the principles of sustainable development
• In this program, sustainable development is
  defined as conservation-oriented social and
  economic development that emphasizes the
  protection and sustainable use of resources,
  while addressing both current and future needs
  and present and future impacts of human
  actions.)

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Border XXI Environmental Health Working Group

• PAHO received the assignment for developing the
  environmental health indicators
• (Nov. 1999)

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Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua June 5-6, 2000
Exploratory meeting
20 Organizations participated 10 from Mex. 8
from the U.S. 2 International
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"Need to Unify Criteria and Concepts"

• Same terminology with different definitions
• Available data was not comparable.
• Unable to measure impact in health
• Need to define criteria for data collection,
  using same methodology and instruments

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New Process to Develop the Environmental Health
Indicators in the U.S.-Mexico Border

• Preparation of a conceptual document
• Validation of the document
• Disclosure of the conceptual document to
  national, state and local authorities
• Workshop in sister cities along the U.S-Mexico
  border to implement the environmental health
  indicators program (data collection and
  monitoring)
• Evaluation of the implemented indicators

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Conceptual Document Development

• First Draft PAHO/WHO Collaboration Center CHUQ
• Research Center, Canada,
• June , 2001
• Second Draft Experts meeting El Paso, Texas
• July 26-27, 2001
• Final Proposal After revision by federal
  governments
• September 17 November 16, 2001
• Dissemination of the document January , 2002

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Conceptual Document
- Contents -

• Define environmental health
• Define environmental health indicator
• Establish a framework for Indicator
• Define criteria for Selecting of Indicators
• Propose list of Core Indicators

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Environmental Health
Environmental health comprises Those aspects
of human health, disease, injury and well-being
that are determined or influenced by factors in
the in the environment. This includes the study
of both direct deleterious effects of various
chemical, physical, and biological agents, as
well as the effects on health of the broad
physical and social environment, which includes
housing, urban development, land-use and
transportation, industry and agriculture. Environm
ent health also refers to the professional
practice of evaluating, preventing, correcting or
controlling environment risks and promoting the
benefits for communities and individuals
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Environmental Health Indicator
an expression of the link between environment
and health, targeted at an issue of specific
policy or management concerns and presented in a
form which facilitates interpretation for
effective decision making
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DPSEEA Model
WHO, 1999
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Development Environment-Health Chain
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• CRITERIA FOR INDICATORS
• Of general relevance
• related to a specific question or issue of
  concern
• health-related and linked to environment/developme
  nt factors
• sensitive to changes in the conditions of
  interest
• provide early warning of pending changes
• Scientifically sound
• unbiased and representative of the conditions of
  concern
• scientifically credible, reliable and valid
• based on best available data of acceptable
  quality
• robust and unaffected by minor changes in
  methodology/scale used for their construction.
• consistent and comparable over time and space
• Applicable to users

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Indicators for Decision Makers

• Monitor and assess trends
• Identify and prioritize problems
• Set standards and guidelines
• Monitor progress
• Inform the public

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US - Mexico Border Indicators Initiatives

• Demographic indicators
• Socio economics
• Health indicators
• Health core data indicators
• Global/regional health indicators
• Environmental health indicators
• Health cities indicators

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CORE INDICATORS

• Opportunities
• Shared knowledge on environment and health
  effects
• Inter-and intra-country comparisons
• Aggregation at different levels
• Reporting international treaties/agreements/conven
  tions
• Reduced country burdens
• Streamlined and harmonized data collection and
  management

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Environmental Health Indicators
Conceptual Document