Dr. Kamal Zaineh's paper Children Living in a Conflict Environment: The Palestinian Case explored children's right to health and life while living under serious risks in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Dr. Zaineh is associated with the Health Work Committees in Palestine. As he could not make it to the conference due to travel restrictions, his paper was presented by Dr. Mahmood A. Khwaja from SDPI. The full impact of infiltrations, border closures, and curfews on the health of children living in the Occupied Territories could only be reflected through long-term health indicators. In three years some 15,000 children (39% of the total children's population) were injured. Of those injured, some 30% were permanently disabled. Nutritional surveys for 2002 indicate 2.5% of the total children's population suffering from acute malnutrition. There had been a drastic rise in child labor during the same period.
Excessive border fencing and the recent construction of the wall along the Occupied Territories had further constrained access to basic needs as schooling, emergency care and health services. Further, the daily humiliation and harassments faced by children passing through the border check-points may result in emotional scars that could hamper the development of any child.
He suggested that these visible threats to children compounded by their psychosocial impact would have repercussions extending to years to come; therefore it is essential to have collaboration at all levels to introduce and enforce international agreements towards child protection in this region.
Dr. Rita Pandey from National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, India, in her presentation What is Missing in the Government's Overall Approach to Addressing Health Threats to Children and What Needs to be Done looked into children's growing vulnerability compared to adults due to their (relatively) higher breathing and metabolism rates. Exposure to pollutants in young children when their body organs are still developing can cause permanent and irreversible damage of vital organs such as the nervous system, heart, and lungs. Also, since children are exposed to toxins at an earlier age than adults, they have more time to develop environmentally triggered diseases with long latency periods, such as cancer and chronic asthma.
She recommended that there is a need of comprehensive legislation on environmental health hazards which must encompass elements such as standard setting for admissible limits of pollutants both for point sources and ambient air, water and land, standards for drinking water, eatables, paints, toys, colors and other things predominantly used by children. There is also a need for reducing risk factors by taking preventive measures and also reducing the negative impacts in the event of an environmental health hazard. This can happen when prevention and mitigation of environmental health impacts on children is considered a high return investment with benefits in the form of long term cumulative cost savings. Apportioning funds towards such long-term objectives however requires enhanced social awareness and strong political determination.
Mr. Lutfullah Kakakhel from PU, Pakistan, chaired the session. The discussant Dr. Mahmood A. Khwaja argued that although children have a higher metabolic and breathing rate than adults but at the same time their excretory rate is also very high. If the hazardous chemicals are being excreted at a more rapid rate than in adults, then they should not have a higher vulnerability risk.
Reported by Nazima Shaheen
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