PEHSU.CAT

 

Following a progressive process of development, growth and implementation, the Environmental Pediatrics Consultation (CPA) of La Garrotxa was launched in July 2016, the first of its kind in all of Catalonia. The CPA was integrated into the Territorial Pediatric Team (EPT) of La Garrotxa as a service not only in pediatrics but also in other services, especially obstetrics, but also in collaboration with other services inside and outside the Hospital Foundation of Olot and the Garrotxa Region.

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On November 14, 2017, the launch of the Pediatric Environmental Health Unit (PEHSU) in La Garrotxa was inaugurated. This Unit or PEHSU continued and expanded the experience of the CPA, with the incorporation of new members to the team and new projects. In 2023, CatSalut recognizes the work carried out during all this time, and in 2024, it places the PEHSU in La Garrotxa as a reference center for the entire territory. PEHSU has carried out activities in the different areas established by the WHO guide, which can be consulted in detail in the reports of previous years on the website www.pehsu.cat and which can be summarized as:

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1. Clinical assistance: environmental screening for pregnant couples (Reproductive Green Page; smoking cessation consultation for pregnant couples and parents of children with respiratory pathology; pre- and postnatal monitoring of environmental risk exposures (e.g. fetal alcohol spectrum disorders or FASD, and other disorders related to prenatal drug exposure); environmental screening for pediatric respiratory pathology (Respiratory Green Page); environmental pediatric consultation (asynchronous visits), environmental risk assessment in congenital malformations, among others.

2. Community action: nature prescription (Forests for health: a baby, a tree; nature prescription for families with babies); school environmental health (school visits, active school mobility, air quality in schools), dissemination and creation of materials for pregnant women; educational programs on health and the environment on local radio and television; school environmental health workshops.

3. Training: participation in courses, sessions and symposia. Since 2019, biannual edition of the Pediatric Environmental Health Conference (2025, the 3rd edition), and since 2022, two annual editions of the basic training course in SMAP for healthcare professionals (online course with internships at PEHSU) and 2024, advanced training course in SMAP (WHO modules). Internships and tutoring of university students. Participation in the Master's in Planetary Health and the Master's in Healthy and Sustainable Food of the Open University of Catalonia, and currently in the process of starting different training courses at the University of Girona.

4. Advice and network: launch and training of the network of references in pediatric environmental health in Catalonia (PEHSU.CAT Network) throughout the territory, integrated into the territorial pediatric care teams (ETAP) and other centers. Participation in various working groups of the Public Health Agency of Catalonia (“Environmental smoking and perinatal and child health”, “Pregnancy without alcohol or drugs”) and of scientific societies (Catalan Society of Pediatrics and Spanish Association of Pediatrics). Clinical Action Plan on lead exposure in the Bonmatí area in cooperation with the Public Health Agency of Catalonia, the Girona Health Region and the local basic areas.

5. Research: clinical, epidemiological and translational research based on healthcare activities and collaborative studies. Lines of work in environmental screening of pregnancy, climate change and pediatric health, air pollution and childhood respiratory health, pubertal advance and the environment, pediatric cancer survivors, prenatal exposure to alcohol and other drugs, nature prescription programs, among others.

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