Featured NALBOH Resources: New NALBOH Training Opportunity NALBOH is now accepting applications for the National Environmental Health Policy Network (NEHPN). NEHPN will provide board of health members and other local officials with resources, education, training, and technical assistance to improve environmental health policy and services using Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach. Participants will educated about HiAP, a method that seeks to improve health by considering the health effects of policies in sectors outside of health and healthcare. Learn more about NEHPN or download the application form. NALBOH is accepting application forms by mail, fax (419-352-6278) or email Carrie Hribar.     NEW! Updated Environmental Health Primer The Local Board of Health Environmental Health Primer, 2nd Edition is now available. This publication is an excellent resource for boards of health or other public health practitioners who need an introduction to environmental health issues. The Primer has been updated with more information for boards of health, and now includes fact sheets and PowerPoint presentations for additional learning opportunities. Download NALBOH Order Form (pdf)    Online Resource-Expanded!: Repository of Local Environmental Health Policies

 

Did You Know...

 

The National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures has released Addressing Public Health and Chemical Exposures: An Action Agenda.  This agenda was created with input from communities, businesses, health professional groups, non-government organizations, academic institutions, and government agencies. It calls for an increased emphasis on preventing harmful chemical exposures, reforming outdated and ineffective policies, promoting the health of children and other vulnerable populations, and improving the ability to make or engage in difficult decisions. It includes recommendations for local governments which are applicable to boards of health.

 

The American Public Health Association has created a short film covering the history of environmental health in the United States over the past century.

 

The Public Health Law Network hosted a webinar entitled “Fracking – Is It Just a Dirty Word?: Environmental and Public Health Considerations of Hydrofracturing”. The webinar examined the health hazards of fracking, policies to protect the public’s health from these risks and the reactions of the public health community.

 

APHA has released a guidebook, Climate Change: Mastering the Public Health Role, which is a translation of a six-part webinar series. The guidebook includes information on how public health departments have addressed climate change, providing evidence and information to communicate to the public how climate change is a threat to health, and strategies to ensure adaptation to a changing climate.

 

Free Training Through Environmental Public Health Online Courses
The Jefferson County Department of Health’s Environmental Services (JCDH), the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), the National Environmental Health Association and CDC / NCEH’s Environmental Health Services Branch have partnered to develop a comprehensive on-demand environmental health training program. NEHA will award preapproved continuing education credit for each course successfully completed. Fourteen courses are now available online. Get more information on how to register for courses.

 

The CDC and EPA have released a Joint Statement on Bed Bug Control in the United States. Read the document.

 

Asbestos.net is a comprehensive online resource for information about asbestos and asbestos-related diseases.  It contains expert-reviewed articles, a medical directory, and legal resources for affected individuals, families, and concern community members. Click to visit this informative website.

 

Environmental Health Services Branch: Enhancing and Revitalizing Environmental Public Health

The overarching goal of the Environmental Health Services Branch (EHSB) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is to enhance and revitalize environmental public health to address a range of environmental health issues. Click to learn what's new at CDC's EHSB!

 

Environmental Public Health Performance Standards

The Environmental Public Health Performance Standards (EnPHPS) can be used to assist local, state, and tribal boards' capability to perform the Ten Essential Services of Environmental Public Health at all levels. The standards will also more clearly describe what environmental health programs need to do to perform the Ten Essential Services. For more information, please visit CDC's Environmental Public Health Performance Standards home page.

In the News

 

New Jersey has a large number of Superfund and contaminated sites that have yet to be cleaned up.

 

The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners (OR), acting as the Board of Health, passed a ban on the sale of reusable beverage containers that contain the chemical Bisphenol A.

 

 The city of Milwaukee now has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country.

 

The Sangamon County Board of Health (IL) passed an ordinance requiring cats to be registered and vaccinated for rabies.      

 

The city of Chicago banned the sale of bumper pads for cribs because of suffocation concerns.  

 

Yale Environment 360 interviews Lynn Goldman, dean of the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, about emerging environmental health threats in the U.S.