The fall season marks the start of National Children’s Health Month, this year the theme is “Growing Healthy, Growing Happy.”
For twenty-five years the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has worked towards improving the health of children by enacting policies that focus on exposures and educating the public about ways to reduce risks and improve children’s health.
Due to their developing respiratory systems children are more vulnerable to environmental exposures. Children in low-income communities are often most affected by their environments. Efforts to educate, collaborate and share resources are crucial to improving children’s health.
The Environmental Protection Agency multiple resources to help with impacts on children such as:
• Asthma
• Lead Exposure
• Childhood cancer
• Developmental disabilities
In addition to the physical effects of exposure in the environment there are also economic impacts as well. Doctor visits, medication, and therapy are costly. Lost time at school also sets children back in their education. Common environmental exposures include pollution, air, water, soil, internal/stress/social circumstances (where you live); arsenic, which is found in soil and groundwater, fluoride-high levels may have a link to lower IQ in children; lead (paint dust and soils); neighborhood characteristics (high poverty and lack of health care, access to healthy foods, parks and recreational facilities) all impact children’s health.
The Indiana Joint Asthma Coalition, (InJAC); a statewide coalition that works to reduce the burden of asthma in Indiana in addition to reducing environmental triggers has resources available on the website. Check out easy to use resources like the digital flipbook Tips for Managing Your Asthma to help you and your family stay healthy. To join the Indiana Joint Asthma Coalition please sign up here.
