engleski

Exposure Assessment Survey in Schools: Pilot Project in Osijek, Croatia

Children's health is affected by the quality of indoor and outdoor environments. In order to prevent environmentally mediated diseases among children, the Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region adopted the Parma Declaration on Environment and Health in 2010, which includes commitments to provide children with access to safe water and sanitation, improve indoor air quality in children’s facilities, and make schools tobacco- and smoke- free places. To measure progress towards these goals, WHO facilitated the development of a survey toolkit for national surveys. In preparation for a national school survey in Croatia, this toolkit was pilot tested in two high schools in the city of Osijek, Croatia, in spring 2012. The main problems detected in the survey were: 1) high prevalence of smoking, with 34% of pupils smoking inside or outside school during school hours ; 2) poor ventilation, with pupils spending over 30% of their school time in classrooms with carbon dioxide concentrations exceeding 1, 000 ppm ; and 3) the presence of dampness in school premises. Sanitation facilities were generally satisfactory. Concentrations of formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide, and benzene in classrooms were generally low. Smoking, poor ventilation, and dampness were the environmental risk factors identified in this survey in the two schools.

exposure assessment ; indoor air pollutants ; children ; WASH ; injuries ; tobacco consumption

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