This working group brought together researchers from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Canada, who have done pioneering work on the consequences of gender and social inequities on environmental and workplace exposures to toxic substances. The results of our work demonstrate that an ecosystem approach to human health (EAHH) which seeks to couple an understanding of the social, political, economic and cultural situation to the geophysical, biological and chemical realities can lead to focused community action, mitigation and improved health. We are comitted to furthering research into the methodological issues that underlie this approach and to developing a multi-centre approach to carry out long-term studies in the different countries.

First workshop of the EAHHNWG American sub-group!
August 2-7, 2004 - Santiago de Chile

(From left: Donna Mergler, Ineke Wesseling, Ruth Arroyo, Oscar Betancourt, Julia Medel, and Mario Henry Rodreguiz; photo: Jena Webb)

The first workshop of the EAHHNWG Latin American sub-group was convened to draft a proposal for the Global Community of Practice in Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health (COPEH) - Latin American and Caribbean communities which was submitted August 25, 2004. In December we were invited to submit a second, more detailed proposal. In June 2005 we will learned that we have been selected to manage the COPEH. See our site: www.unites.uqam.ca/copeh/.