The Pediatric Environmental Health Unit celebrates 10 years as a benchmark in children's environmental health

The PEHSU commemorates a decade of activity with a day of events open to the public this Thursday, 8 October, Children's Environmental Health Day #CEHDay.

Over these 10 years the unit has handled more than 6,000 clinical consultations and has established itself as the first partner in Spain in the United Nations Children's Environmental Health Collaborative.

The Pediatric Environmental Health Unit (PEHSU) of the Garrotxa Territorial Pediatric Team, part of the Hospital d'Olot i Comarcal de la Garrotxa Foundation, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Coinciding with Children's Environmental Health Day, this Thursday, 8 October, the unit has organised a day of events to share with the community and professionals a decade of work dedicated to protecting children from environmental impacts.

Since its creation in 2016, PEHSU has handled more than 6,000 clinical consultations. Activity has grown steadily year after year, especially with the recent expansion of its members' dedication. Currently, the team consists of a pediatrician specialising in environmental health, an environmental nurse and an environmental scientist/nurse.

Over this decade, the unit has rolled out eight specialised care programmes: environmental screening in pregnancy and lactation (Full Verd), follow-up of children with prenatal exposure to alcohol or other drugs, smoking cessation consultation for pregnant women and their partners, environmental pulmonology (Full Verd respiratory), environmental endocrinology (precocious puberty in girls), general environmental pediatrics (lead, occupational exposures, pesticides, moulds), telemedicine consultations (asynchronous visits) and congenital malformations. In addition, PEHSU has advised public health agencies and the Department of Health on community exposure to lead, prenatal screening for alcohol and other drugs, and pediatric health prevention and promotion protocols.

Celebration events

The programme of events for the 10th anniversary, to be held today, Thursday 8 October, includes:

• Planting around the hospital (car park area), from approximately 9:30 to 11:00 a.m., with the participation of 5th-grade primary students from Escola Morrot in Olot and the Agrupació Naturalista i Ecologista de la Garrotxa (ANEGx).

• General session open to everyone: "From Garrotxa to the world: creating healthier environments for children and adolescents", from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., in the assembly hall.

• Presentation of the little wood story, by Nina Bach, Eva Ruiz and Anna Vila, with the Taliqual choir, at 5:30 p.m., in the hospital's little wood.

Commitment to the community

Beyond clinical activity, PEHSU has developed two regular lines of community activity: nature prescription and school environmental health. The initiative "Forests for health: one baby, one tree" has planted more than 600 saplings in 10 events. More than 1,000 schoolchildren have participated in workshops on air pollution, active mobility and nitrate poisoning.

In the field of training, the unit has organised three in-person Pediatric Environmental Health conferences (2019, 2023 and 2025), with an average of 100 attendees each, and has accumulated 130 presentations, seminars and workshops. Basic training in pediatric environmental health totals six editions with 150 students from all over Catalonia, and advanced training, one edition with 42 students, mostly pediatricians and pediatric nurses. As for scientific output, 80 scientific documents have been generated, including book chapters, conference communications and articles in indexed journals.

From Garrotxa to the world

Since its launch, PEHSU has been a benchmark in pediatric environmental health not only in the region, but throughout Catalonia. It currently receives case referrals from across Catalonia and coordinates the training of the referents of the Catalan Pediatric Environmental Health Referents Network (Xarxa PEHSU.CAT). Since 2025, the General Sub-Directorate for Professional Organisation and Development of the Department of Health has approved it to receive and train pediatric residents in the field of pediatric environmental health. In January 2026, the United Nations, through UNICEF, recognised PEHSU as an entity committed to protecting children from the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, integrating it into the Children's Environmental Health Collaborative. It is the first partner in Spain recognised by the UN in this network, which has 64 entities worldwide, including governments, universities, healthcare centres such as the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and organisations such as Save the Children and Human Rights Watch.

With this decade of experience, PEHSU consolidates the model of pediatric environmental health units within European healthcare systems, reaffirming its commitment to the prevention, detection, assessment and management of environmental risks and diseases in childhood and adolescence.