Critical Competencies in Children's Environmental Health

Competency in children's environmental health allows for the development of interventions that can prevent the long-term and irreversible health outcomes that result from early environmental toxic exposures. Health e_ects that are thought to be at least partially influenced by early exposures include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), lower IQ, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. Despite the value of children's environmental health, there are still gaps in workforce training for those interested in children's environmental health. These gaps in knowledge and training highlight the need for improved ways to build the capacity of children's environmental health professionals. Our work focused on creating a set of competencies for public health professionals interested in children's environmental health careers as a way to meet the demand for children's environmental health specialists. We identified 12 competencies that individuals can adopt to build their capacity as children's environmental health professionals.