Children's Environmental Health in Central Asia and the Middle East

Abstract

Children in Central Asia and the Middle East bear disproportionate environmental threats to health, of which the most widespread and serious result from poverty, malnutrition, lack of access to safe drinking water and food, and exposures to toxic chemicals. Their psychological health is threatened in several parts of this region by internal wars and strife. Many, or even most, children are regularly exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. In many of these countries, children constitute very high percentages of the population. Because children constitute the future, it is critical that these threats to their health be addressed and reduced to the greatest extent possible through both provision of safe and adequate drinking water and nutrition and reduction of exposures to environmental contaminants.

What have we learned? A review of the literature on children’s health and the environment in the Aral Sea area

“…Decades of destructive agricultural practices and general environmental mismanagement led to the disappearance of what was once the fourth largest inland body of water in the world, combined with the contamination of the air, soils and water with toxic agricultural chemicals (Micklin 2007). The environmental problems in the region have had significant public health impacts exacerbated by the breakdown of the health care and social security systems and the rise in unemployment and poverty that were associated with the loss of Soviet support (Carpenter et al 2006; Glantz 1999). …”

“…These conditions have been linked either directly or indirectly to the areas environmental degradation. While the population as a whole has been affected, physiological, behavioral, and metabolic characteristics, combined with the immaturity of organs and systems make children particularly vulnerable to contaminants and increases their likelihood of exposure (Carpenter et al 2006). …”

Indicators for relational values of nature’s contributions to good quality of life: the IPBES approach for Europe and Central Asia

“…Water pollution in some Western and Central European countries has decreased, but in Eastern Europe and Central Asia on-going water pollution remains a threat for the availability and quality of drinking water (UN-Water 2011). In addition, decreased water levels in natural reservoirs have led to increased water pollution and health threats in those regions, especially in the Aral Sea region and rural Tajikistan (Carpenter et al 2006;UN-Water 2011). Despite a lack of systematic reviews of the positive or negative effects of waterbodies ('blue space'), they can have many types of influences on health (Völker and Kistemann 2011).…”

“…Furthermore, high upstream water abstraction and uneven distribution have continued to threaten water security in Central Asia (Abdolvand et al 2015;Conrad et al 2016). The health of children in Central Asia is disproportionately threatened due to a lack of access to safe drinking water, especially in the Aral Sea region and rural Tajikistan (Carpenter et al 2006). This demonstrates the overlap between different dimensions of RV: equity as a held value concerns security and health.…”