Climate change, atmospheric pollution, active mobility, healthy school environments or contact with nature are some of the topics that were presented during today's day in the conference room of the Hospital d'Olot at different tables, debates and conferences. It has had the participation of speakers from institutions throughout the State such as the Instituto Carlos III of Madrid, the Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal) of Barcelona, the University of Zaragoza, the Chair of Oceans and Human Health of the University de Girona, the Pediatria dels Pirineus cooperative or the Hospital ClÃnico Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca de Múrcia.
In the first part of the session, emphasis was placed on the challenges still facing pediatric health: the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, although children under the age of 5 account for around 12% of world population, will receive 88% of the burden of disease and mortality attributable to climate change, and will be particularly vulnerable to air pollutants, both impacts with common origins in motorized traffic, industry or energy, among d others
In the second, the opportunities generated by some programs that are already underway around schools or bicycle mobility were discussed, and in the last, restorative environments such as contact between families and children with nature to improve health. The day ended with a conference by Ferran Campillo, an environmental pediatrician in Catalonia, on the concept of nature's prescription, and some key take-home messages from Murcia pediatrician Juan Antonio Ortega.
This is the second edition of a day that the Pediatric Environmental Health Unit (PEHSU) organizes to train health and environmental professionals, and to raise awareness among the general population about the importance of the state of the environment to childhood health.
The day was inaugurated by Josep Berga, mayor of Olot; Carmen Cabezas, secretary of the Public Health Agency of the Department of Health, and Anna Gatell, president of the Catalan Pediatric Society. As for the closing, it was Anna Barnadas, Secretary General of Environment and Sustainability of the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, who closed the event.
The different presentations can be seen again on the YouTube channel of the PEHSU.
New edition of the planting of saplings "A baby, a tree"
During the day, a new planting of saplings was also held around the Hospital, an initiative that seeks to link all babies born in La Garrotxa to nature and that aims to stimulate protective factors and contact with nature nature from the moment of birth. In this edition, more than fifty families have come to the center to plant a native species of the region.
The "A baby, a tree" project was born at the end of 2020 by the Naturalist and Ecological Association of la Garrotxa and the Natural Park of the Volcanic Zone of la Garrotxa, and currently also has the help of the group of speech therapy patients.
