Course is available
All health workers would benefit from gaining knowledge and skills to protect individuals and communities from air pollution exposure. This course examines the main health impacts of air pollution and which roles health workers can play to protect and promote people’s health.
Photo credit: Pond5 / UHDenis
Air pollution is a major environmental risk causing about 7 million premature deaths per year. These deaths are mostly caused from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – such as ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer – but also from acute lower respiratory tract infections, such as pneumonia.
To date, air pollution – and more broadly environmental health – is not sufficiently addressed in the curricula of health professionals. Yet, the engagement of the health sector and the health community is pivotal to boost advocacy and political action for clean air. This requires a strong effort by governments and civil society willing to increase the awareness of current and future health workers to tackle the health effects of air pollution.
The target audience for this course is health workers which includes care-givers such as medical doctors, nurses, midwives, community health workers, and future health care professionals, as well as public health professionals and other representatives of the ministries of health.
This course is part of a broader set of material, the Air Pollution and Health Training Toolkit for health worker (APHT).
Approximately 4 hours.
An official Certificate of Achievement, issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), will be available to participants who score at least 80% in the final assessment.
Participants receiving a certificate of achievement can also download an Open Badge for this course. Click here to learn how.
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