enHealth Council - Environmental Health For Kids

What is Environmental Health?

Environmental health is all about looking after the things in our environment that affect our health. Sometimes our environment can improve our health, sometimes it can make us sick. Environmental health tries to make sure there are plenty of the things that make us feel better and none of the things that make us sick.

Sometimes people aren't sure what the word environment in environmental health means. They might think it means nature like trees and animals, but it really means everywhere we work, live or play. This means your environment is places like your home, your school and your local park. This doesn't mean environmental health ignores nature because for healthy people we also need a healthy world.

There are many different people working in environmental health, some examples are:

people who make sure our food and water is clean and safe;
people who collect our garbage and dispose of it properly;
people who design safe houses;
people who check our air is clean and safe for us to breath;
people who check our swimming pools are clean and safe;
people who make sure chemicals are safe and are handled safely; and
people who plan the way our cities and communities are set out, to ensure we have plenty of the things which make us healthy.
Most people who work in environmental health are employed by the government, with many in local or state government. One type of person is known as an Environmental Health Officer, a job which does many different things to do with environmental health. If you want to know more about environmental health in your area, you could contact your local Council and ask to speak to an Environmental Health Officer.

Kid's Environmental Health Links
Here are some links to other websites that have information on environmental health for kids. There are some great activities to do on both pages.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Kids' Pages (United States of America) http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/home.htm

National Centre for Environmental Health (United States of America)
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/kids/99kidsday/default.htm