International strategies in children's environmental health

In recent years the fact that children need to be protected against environmental stressors has been widely accepted by decision- and policy-makers. However, there is not yet a good or unified strategy to improve children's health by improving their environment. The Policy Interpretation Network on Children's Health and Environment (PINCHE) network suggested a range of recommendations to support the development of a strategy on children's environmental health on different levels of authority: international, national, regional, and local. There clearly are indicated bottlenecks in the thematic network approach. Three main challenges for success have been identified; first is data comparability. PINCHE identified the need for standardisation of environmental assessments, classification of childhood respiratory diseases and symptoms, and a format for defining diagnostic groups and presentation of data. Second, data accessibility must be addressed. Accessibility of the scientific data to the general public, including health professionals and policy makers, is important and requires translation that is often lacking. Third there is a requirement to harmonise definitions and methods to ensure that scientists and authorities speak the same language. Obstacles are the subsidiarity principle, fragmentation of available knowledge or lack of expertise and purpose at various levels, the lack of political commitment or input and economic issues.