• In 1997, UNICEF and UNEP signed a Memorandum of Understanding that facilitates cooperation primarily in terms of advocacy in areas of common concern and in scientific/technical cooperation on programme activities. The MOU also commits the two organizations to support programme implementation through the best scientific and environmental information that bears on children and child health, especially at the field level in developing countries.
  
• In 1999, WHO set up a Task Force for the Protection of Children’s Environmental Health. The objectives are to prevent disease and disability associated with chemical and physical threats to children, taking into consideration biological risks in the environment and acknowledging the importance of social and psychosocial factors. To achieve this, the Task Force promotes activities on the identification, assessment, mitigation and prevention of, as well as communication about, environmental threats.
  
• In 1999, WHO and UNEP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a view to strengthening their cooperation in the field of environmental health as an essential factor in achieving sustainable development.
  
• UNICEF has been supporting an international initiative on School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE) within an inter-agency effort called the FRESH framework (Focusing Resources on Effective School Health). The World Bank, UNICEF, WHO and UNESCO are among the active members of FRESH. SSHE focuses on using a life-skills approach to hygiene education, improving the sanitary and environmental conditions of schools, and providing outreach to families and communities. Improved hygiene and sanitation in schools help encourage girls to attend schools and improve the health of pupils and their ability to learn. UNICEF-supported SSHE activities are taking place in over 40 countries across Africa, Asia,
• In September 2001, two NGOs, the Canadian Institute of Child Health and the U.S. Children’s Environmental Health Network, hosted their second ‘Global Forum’ on children’s environmental health in Washington D.C. The Global Forum focused on the special vulnerability of children and how the environment in which they live, learn, work and play impacts them. It attracted public health specialists, medical practitioners, scientific researchers, government officials, policy makers, industry, advocacy groups and community-based organizations.

Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs)

At the international level, the rapidly expanding body of international environmental law is a key component in the international community’s reservoir of policy responses to environment and health threats. MEAs can help to promote innovative policy responses and to enhance processes to address the most pressing environmental challenges that threaten human health. To date, it is estimated that there are more than 500 international treaties and agreements related to the environment. The existence of such legally binding agreements is a remarkable feat of the global community, clearly indicating a collective will and commitment to protecting the environment and, by extension, children’s health. A recent example: Governments recognized that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) endanger human health globally as well as the environment from one generation to the next. Hence, they negotiated and signed the Stockholm Convention on POPs to minimize and eliminate some of the most toxic chemicals ever created in order to secure the health of future generations and the integrity of the chain of life.

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