Leadership Attend International Federation of Environmental Health

We sent three delegates to the 16th World Congress on Environmental Health hosted by the International Federation of Environmental Health in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on August 23–25 to represent our members and the workforce, including:

• Executive Director David Dyjack, DrPH, CIH, who was the conference's keynote speaker
• First Vice-President CDR Anna Khan, MA, REHS/RS
• Jesse Bliss, MPH, Director of our Program and Partnership Development department and the Americas representative to the International Federation of Environmental Health

Dr. Paul Allwood of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health also attended and participated in an expert panel that was moderated by Jesse Bliss. The congress included approximately 250 participants from over 20 countries from Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands, and Latin American.

Key Findings

• There was a consensus that environmental health is de-emphasized throughout much of the public health world. This phenomenon is not limited to the U.S.
• Associations (not governments) seem to be universally recognized as the go-to and primary vehicle for dissemination of best practices.
• Zoonotic diseases and subsequent contagious infections transmitted through the environment are increasingly problematic worldwide.
• Climate change is a universal challenge.