Paivi Abernethy
PhD, MRes, MSc (cand.scient.)
community-based research & practice - bridging public health & environment for governance towards sustainable development
children's environmental health (CEH)
Why are children more vulnerable to environmental hazards?
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how it all is interconnected...
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Children were identified as the priority outcome in Brundtland Commission’s definition on sustainable development. They are key to the well-being of future generations. Yet, children are significantly more vulnerable than adults to environmental influences, because of their developing bodies, physical size, biochemical pathways, behaviour, and many socioeconomic factors. Indeed, children carry a disproportionate burden of the environmental health risks in both developed and developing countries.
My background in children's environmental health:
I have been interested in the linkages between health and the environment since I studied natural sciences at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and Lund University in Sweden, taking courses ranging from ecology, geosciences, zoology, human and plant physiology to inorganic, organic, physical, environmental, and biochemistry as well as human and environmental toxicology, and neurophysiology.
Since 2006, my focus has been on the public health aspects of children's environmental health.
My PhD and children's environmental health:
My transdisciplinary doctoral research focused on different types of knowledge needed for health and sustainability integration. I studied cross-sectoral bridging of academic theories, bridging organisations, and bridging of local knowledge, using children's environmental health as a bridging concept.
The aim was to generate better and more meaningful knowledge for decision-making and policy development - particularly in relation to health threats caused by environmental factors.